Nokia’s Developer site was recently defaced by Indian Hacker “pr0tect0r AKA mrNRG”. He wasn’t there to steal data, instead he just just wanted to point out how little security Nokia was using. In a statement on the site, he says:
“LOL, Worlds number 1 mobile company but not spending a dime for a server security! FFS patch your security holes otherwise you will be just another antisec victim. No Dumping, No Leaking!!”
The news was reported by Aleksi Moisio of Helsingin Sanomat, a Finnish publication. He was told by a Nokia spokesperson that they are “currently evaluating the security practices of websites that are hosted externally” after admitting to the attack on Monday. Now considering this website was “hosted externally”, meaning that Nokia was outsourcing the hosting to someone else who was in charge of all the bits and bobs associated with IT administration, you shouldn’t be worried about attacks to the servers hosting Nokia’s Ovi Store, better known as the servers that have your credit card data. Those are maintained by Nokia themselves, and they’ve got some of the best IT guys on the planet.
That being said, this does look rather sloppy, and such an attack couldn’t have come at a worse time. Nokia is in the process of reinventing their image as they bury the memories of Symbian in the past and give birth to the Windows Phone era. How exactly will Nokia service developers once they make the switch to Windows Phone is something we’re curious to see. Microsoft has a much richer history of developer outreach than Nokia, who has traditionally sent public relations people to technical events, leading both parties, the attendees and the Nokia employees, feeling utterly confused, out of place, and disappointed.
Let’s hope that isn’t the case for 2012, when Nokia needs to show the world that they’re not dead … yet.