The Sony PlayStation Network hack apparently exposed personal information, including credit card data, for 77 million people. It is a hint of things to come.
The PlayStation hack shows one thing: crooks can potentially get into nearly any system, from Gmail to corporate websites. Security software has not kept up with the ingenuity of criminals. The difficulty of protecting servers, PC’s, mobile devices, and networks is made more complex by the fact that attacks can come from anywhere in the word. A network in the US can be hacked by engineers in North Korea. Tracking down offenders often means spreading a global net.
‘It’s not a really a surprise,” says Tim Brown, senior vice president and chief security architect, CA Technologies, of the PlayStation hack in an interview. “It was just a matter of time. Each one of those people (gamers) has valuable information that is useful and can be monetized.”
Computer security is becoming a pressing issue for companies and consumers alike. Thieves broke into the network of retailer TJX in 2007 and stole 94 million credit card numbers and transaction details. The Epsilon hack in April exposed data from Citibank, Chase, Capital One, Walgreens, Target, Best Buy, Tivo, TD Ameritrade, and Verizon. It is not clear how many people were affected but the breach was big enough that it was disclosed to the public.
It is not difficult to choose which networks are likely to be targeted next. They will be large, with subscriber bases in the tens – if not hundreds – of millions of people. Those subscribers will have provided data which is commercially useful – credit cards, addresses, purchasing habits, details about daily activities, large lists of friends and relatives. The networks which will be targeted will almost certainly have multiple points of public access which are vulnerable to attack. Twenty-five million people are on Skype at any given moment. Hundreds of thousands of people are looking at merchandise and making bids on eBay . Maybe these networks need to be as secure as Top Secret networks at the Pentagon.
24/7 Wall St. looked a dozens of large networks, all of which serve consumers worldwide. We considered which ones would be most attractive to hackers because of the amount of data available to a sophisticated hacker. We also looked at the types of networks that have been hacked in the past as a clue to which could be most accessible in the future.
“These are really some of the next targets,” Brown said of networks such as Facebook and the App store. ” All enterprises need to take that very seriously. You have credit card information as the currency of today (for crooks). Social data may be the currency of tomorrow. ”
This is the 24/7 Wall St list of the ten huge networks hackers will target next.
1. Apple iTunes Store
> Total Users: 150 million
> Age of Network: 8 years
> Network Type: Online Media Distribution and App Store
> Popularity: Roughly 350 thousand apps available
Apple’s iTunes Store is the most popular music vendor in the United States, with approximately 150 million user accounts. More than 10 billion songs have been sold through the network. There have also been over 10 billion apps downloaded from Apple’s App Store. Users make financial transactions with their credit cards or gift cards over their computers, phones, iPods, and iPads. The store’s servers are more likely to be exposed to hackers because so many users are accessing the account from mobile devices and unsecured networks, rather than PC’s. In addition, Apple is separate from the App developers, and people who make purchases from independent companies through the store increase their risk of stolen information.
2. Facebook
> Age of Network: 7 years
> Network Type: Social Media
> Popularity: Operates in over 60 countries
The world’s largest social network has over 600 million users. Its servers also contain more personal information than any other site on the web. Because of site-based games such as Farmville and the Facebook Marketplace, Facebook also has the credit card numbers of millions of users within its database. A hack of Mark Zuckerberg’s site would result in the exposure of the personal information of many people, except for social security numbers. Besides the potential goldmine of data of 600 million users, Facebook’s high profile alone makes it the Mount Everest of the hacking world.
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3. LinkedIn
> Total Users: 100 Million
> Age of Network: 8 years
> Network Type: Professional Social Network
> Popularity: nearly 50 million unique monthly visitors
With 100 million users, LinkedIn is the world’s most popular business-oriented social network. According to the company’s S-1, its website is vulnerable to attacks which could cause “loss of critical data or the unauthorized disclosure or use of personally identifiable or other confidential information,” belonging to users. Outside parties may also inappropriately use the site to fraudulently obtain sensitive information from users.
4. Netflix
> Total Users: 23.6 million
> Age of Network: 12 years
> Network Type: Video Rental and Streaming
> Popularity: Has delivered well more than 1 billion DVDs
Netflix began as a delivery-based video rental company, and expanded with a popular movie streaming service. In the case of a security breach, the 23 million Netflix users have more than their movie preferences at risk, specifically: home addresses, phone numbers, and credit card information. Netflix also streams its content through more than 200 different platforms, including the PlayStation Network, and the identities of Netflix users may be at risk through the latest hack.
5. Xbox Live
> Total Users: 30 million
> Age of Network: 9 years
> Network Type: Online Gaming and Game Distribution
> Popularity: Top selling console in the United States
The Xbox 360, which sold more than 50 million units this year, has over 30 million users for its popular Xbox LIVE network, which allows members to purchase online content, games and movies. The users also interact with other vulnerable networks, notably Netflix video streaming. Update: According to the Guardian, less than 24 hours after news of the PlayStation hack, Microsoft issued a security alert to its users about the increased incidence of “phishing,” in which hackers pose as Microsoft employees to obtain personal information.
6. Pandora:
> Total Users: 80 million
> Age of Network: 11 years
> Network Type: Music Recommendation Service
> Popularity: Users listen for 11.6 hours per month on average
As of January 2011, Pandora had 80 million users and was adding a new registered user every second. The company also has over 50% of Internet radio listening time market share. The software is available through the iTunes App Store, for Android phones, BlackBerry platforms, and Windows Mobile Devices. The Wall Street Journal recently released information that Pandora’s smartphone app sent users’ ages, genders, locations, and unique phone identifiers to advertisers.
7. eBay
> Total Users: 94 Million
> Age of Network: 16 years
> Network Type: Online Auction
> Popularity: Total worth of goods sold on eBay in 2010 was $62 billion
eBay has 94 million users and processes millions of user transactions each day. The site owns PayPal, but users may pay for their merchandise by credit card. It is not unimaginable for there to be a large scale eBay hack. In 2007, account information for 1,200 accounts was exposed. eBay has recently moved into the mobile world, with popular apps for Apple and Android phones. This means more users will be accessing the site through less secure networks.
8. Steam
> Total Users: 30 million
> Age of Network: 8 years
> Network Type: Digital Video Game Distribution and Multiplayer Network
> Popularity: World’s largest online gaming platform, with 70% of market share
Steam is the PC version of the Playstation, Xbox, and Nintendo networks and was in many ways the precursor to online media distribution. The platform has roughly 70% of worldwide digital game sales, as well as the credit card information of 30 million users. Several Steam games, including the new Portal 2, actually operates across platforms with the PlayStation 3, and allows messages to be sent back and forth between the two networks. It is possible that this connection has primed the network for an incident similar to this week’s.
9. Travelocity
> Total Users: 32 million
> Age of Network: 15 years
> Network Type: Online Travel Agency
> Popularity: Books over $4 billion in travel per year
Travelocity offers travel products for more than 700 airlines, 50,000 hotels, 50 car companies and 8 major cruise lines. It also has a database of 32 million members. The company processes users’ contact information, financial information, and, of course, travel habits. The site is also connected to multiple outside vendors, such as Hertz, Hilton, and Delta.
10. Skype
> Total Users: 561 million
> Age of Network: 8 years
> Network Type: Online Phone/Video Chat Service
> Popularity: Users made 95 billion minutes of voice and video calls in the first half of 2010
While the basic Skype call service is free, the online phone network offers a variety of online services that requires users to enter credit card information. Calls can be sent and received to any phone or PC in the world, making user information highly vulnerable to hacks and data mining. Flaws have been discovered in Skype’s security in the past, most notably in 2005. As the company develops more new technology, such as smartphone apps, there will be new risks.
Michael B. Sauter, Charles B. Stockdale, Douglas A. McIntyre
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