Hacking group blamed for Lenovo cyber attack

By Liu Zheng (chinadaily.com.cn) Updated: 2015-02-27 17:45

Lenovo Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Yang Yuanqing (R) gestures beside Chief Financial Officer Wong Wai-ming during a news conference announcing the company's annual results in Hong Kong May 21, 2014.[Photo/Agencies]

Lizard Squad, a hacking group that had previously targeted Sony Corp's online PlayStation video-game network, was possibly behind the cyber attack on lenovo.com on Thursday morning, theverge.com reported.

Acccording to tech website theverge.com, the source code for the hacked page identified it as, "the new and improved rebranded Lenovo website featuring Ryan King and Rory Andrew Godfrey," both of whom have been publicly identified as members of the hacker collective Lizard Squad.

It's unclear whether King and Godfrey are actually related to the hack, or if the attackers are simply using their names and photos to hide their true identity.

Some e-mails of employees were also leaked by the group, according to postings on Twitter. The group had previously targeted Sony Corp's online PlayStation video-game network.

Lenovo confirmed on Thursday in a statement that the company had been a victim of a cyber-attack that redirected traffic from the Lenovo.com.

According to Lenovo, the company quickly responded and addressed the issue and restored their site’s ecommerce functionality.

"We are reviewing our network security and we will take further appropriate steps to bolster our site and to protect the integrity of our users' information and experience," said the statement.

The company is also working proactively with third parties and advisors to further investigate and address this attack.

Lenovo Group Ltd's website was hijacked and users were redirected less than a week after the company was criticized for pre-installing advertising software known as Superfish on consumer laptops that exposed users to hacking.

"We saw published reports about security vulnerability created by this software and have taken immediate action to remove it," said Peter Hortensius, senior vice-president and chief technology officer of Lenovo in an open letter posted on lenovo.com.