The importance of using strong passwords to prevent the risk of cyber attacks. The Internet traffic of the mobile telephone operator Orange Spain was seriously disrupted on Wednesday, January 3, after a computer attack, the company acknowledged in a message published on Twitter. A since-resolved incident affecting an undisclosed number of customers who no longer had access to certain websites.
To carry out his crime, the hacker, who operates under the pseudonym “Snow”, broke into the Ripe NCC (European IP Networks-Network Coordination Center) account of an Orange Spain employee. As a reminder, Ripe NCC is a regional database for Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia that contains all IP addresses. Once there, the hacker hijacked the routing of these IP addresses, making certain websites inaccessible.
An insecure password
The cybercriminal’s work was greatly facilitated by the weakness of the password used to protect access to Orange Spain’s Ripe NCC account. This was a “mature administrator.” And to recover it, the hacker only had to use an “infostealer”, spy software capable of intercepting information from a computer, in this case that of an Orange Spain employee. A surprising security flaw for such a sensitive account.
In a statement about the incidentPosted on Wednesday, January 3, the Ripe coordination center also reminded the importance of two-factor authentication and encouraged Ripe account owners to change their passwords.
Not in vain, the implementation of a double authentication system or the periodic change of the password would have complicated the hacker’s task. In a message posted onHowever, Orange Spain said no customer data had been compromised.
Source: BFM TV
