A variety of logos hover above the Microsoft booth on the opening day of the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Credit: Reuters/Rick Wilking
Chinese hackers on Monday attacked Microsoft India's retail website and stole the usernames and passwords of its customers, forcing the company to shut it down temporarily.
The online retail site "
www.microsoftstore.co.in" deals with
computers, computer software and consumer electronics.
Microsoft said the company was investigating the matter and has already sent guidelines to its customers. "We are diligently working to remedy the issue and keep our customers protected," the spokesperson said.
The website showed an error message: "The Microsoft Store India is currently unavailable. Microsoft is working to restore access as quickly as possible. We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused."
Evil Shadow, a Chinese hacking team that claimed responsibility for the attack, obscured the full username and passwords in the screen shots that were posted on a blog run by an Evil Shadow Team member 7z1. The hacker, 7z1, told Reuters that the data had been found unencrypted on the website.
Indian company Quasar Media, which operates the Indian edition of Microsoft Store, said that the company was investigating the issue. "I am not sure when the site will be up again or what happened," spokesman Rahul Roy said.
Microsoft said it has already urged its customers to immediately change their passwords and usernames if the same were being used for any other sites.