For three pennies an hour, hackers can rent Amazon.com's serversto wage cyber attacks such as the one that crippled Sony Corp.'sPlayStation Network and led to the second-largest online databreach in U.S. history.
A hacker used Amazon's Elastic Computer Cloud, or EC2, serviceto attack Sony's online entertainment systems last month, a personwith knowledge of the matter said May 13. The intruder, who used abogus name to set up an account that's now disabled, didn't hackinto Amazon's servers, the person said.
The incident helps illustrate the dilemma facing Chief ExecutiveOfficer Jeff Bezos: Amazon's cloud-computing service is as cheapand convenient for hackers as it is for customers ranging fromNetflix Inc. to Eli Lilly & Co. Last month's attack on Sonycompromised more than 100 million customer accounts, the largestdata breach in the U.S. since intruders stole credit and debit cardnumbers from Heartland Payment Systems in 2009.
Continue Reading for Free
Register and gain access to:
- Thought leadership on regulatory changes, economic trends, corporate success stories, and tactical solutions for treasurers, CFOs, risk managers, controllers, and other finance professionals
- Informative weekly newsletter featuring news, analysis, real-world cas studies, and other critical content
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
*May exclude premium content
Already have an account?
Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
