Microsoft India backtracks, hack may have exposed credit card info

NEW DELHI: Microsoft India has done an about turn. The company has reportedly revealed that credit card details belonging to its customers in the country may have got leaked in the recent hacking of Microsoft India Store.

At the time the hacking incident was reported, Microsoft India had sent emails to its users assuring them that "databases storing credit card details and payment information were not affected during this compromise." However, it now seems this was not so.

Wall Street Journal columnist Amit Agarwal writes in his blog that a new update from Microsoft to its customers in India says, "Further detailed investigation and review of data provided by the website operator revealed that financial information may have been exposed for some Microsoft Store India customers."

Earlier this month, Microsoft India's retail website was hacked by a purportedly Chinese group called Evil Shadow Team. The hackers obscured the full usernames and passwords in the screen shots posted on a blog run by Evil Shadow Team member 7z1 (ps.s.blog.163.com). Writing in Mandarin, 7z1 describes himself as a "patriotic hacker.".

Incidentally, the store is still down.