By Tom Ivan
IT security firm Sophos is claiming that hackers have compromised a number of pages on the US Sony PlayStation website.
According to the company, its researches have discovered that hackers have managed to plant unauthorized code on pages promoting the PlayStation games SingStar Pop and God of War.
The malicious code is said to attempt to fool the site’s visitors into running a bogus anti-virus scan which then informs them that their computer is infected with a number of viruses and Trojan horses.
Sophos reports that the hackers’ aim is to persuade the site’s users to purchase a counterfeit security product.
"There are millions of video game lovers around the world, many of whom will visit Sony's PlayStation website regularly to find out more about the latest console games,” said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos.
“Most would never expect that surfing to a website like this could potentially infect them with malware. If users do not have sufficient protection in place then they might find that before they know it they have been scared into handing their credit card details over to a bunch of cybercriminals."
