Lenovo website hacked by Lizard Squad amid Superfish controversy
Thu 26 Feb 2015
Lenovo has confirmed today that its website was hacked, just a week after it had been uncovered that the PC maker was removing adware which left its laptop users exposed to cyber-attacks.
The leading Chinese hardware manufacturer announced that users attempting to access the website for several hours on Wednesday had been redirected to a page set up by the cyber criminals showing images of bored-looking teenagers (supposedly the hackers themselves) with the song Breaking Free from High School Musical playing in the background.
The group responsible for previous attacks on Sony’s Playstation network, Lizard Squad, has claimed credit for the hack, posting internal Lenovo communications about the Superfish software via Twitter. Lizard Squad has also claimed responsibility for the recent takedown of Microsoft’s Xbox Live network, and has boasted today that it was behind the hack on Google Vietnam.
Lenovo confirmed that it had taken its website offline and was investigating details surrounding the attack.
Later in the day, browsers trying to access lenovo.com were greeted by a message reading: “The Lenovo site you are attempting to access is currently unavailable due to system maintenance.” The website was fully restored by the afternoon.
Last Thursday, Lenovo acknowledged that ‘some consumer notebook products’ were pre-installed with a controversial adware named Superfish, which created a vulnerability leaving consumers open to attack. The Beijing-based firm said that it had stopped installing the software on new products, and was working to disable Superfish on existing devices.
This latest website attack follows a string of online hacks targeting international brands and organisations, including the Chilean Ministry of Defence, health insurance firm Anthem, and the US Postal Service.
Security experts have noted that the attack was not conducted covertly by the hackers, but was rather executed publicly to cause embarrassment and not to sneak away with critical data.
