News
Did Hackers Use Amazon's Cloud Service To Attack PlayStation Network?
Bloomberg News is reporting this morning that the hackers who attacked Sony's PlayStation Network -- which was down for almost a month -- used Amazon's cloud service to stage their attacks.
The reporters who wrote the Bloomberg report cite an anonymous source "with knowledge of the matter" for the information. An Amazon spokesperson contacted by Bloomberg to confirm or deny the information declined to comment.
According to the source, the hackers used Amazon's Elastic Computer Cloud (EC2) to stage the attacks, but did "not hack into Amazon" -- meaning that they paid to rent the cloud service. (EC2's servers can be rented by the hour.)
The account, set up under a "bogus name," has since been disabled.
The Bloomberg article does not say whether or not the EC2 service was just one (or the only) of the staging areas used in the attack.
Sony has also not issued a statement about the report. Its PlayStation network, brought down last month, just came back up this past weekend.
About the Author
Becky Nagel is the former editorial director and director of Web for 1105 Media's Converge 360 group, and she now serves as vice president of AI for company, specializing in developing media, events and training for companies around AI and generative AI technology. She's the author of "ChatGPT Prompt 101 Guide for Business Users" and other popular AI resources with a real-world business perspective. She regularly speaks, writes and develops content around AI, generative AI and other business tech. Find her on X/Twitter @beckynagel.