PlayStation site security warning

Gamers around the world have been warned that the Sony PlayStation website has been compromised by hackers.

Several pages on the site are hosting malicious code, including pages promoting the games SingStar Pop and God of War, security firm Sophos has warned.

At the time of writing the pages are still infected, with fake messages popping up telling visitors that their PCs are infected with malware.

"If users do not have sufficient protection in place then they might find that before they know it they have been scared into handing their credit card details over to a bunch of cybercriminals," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos.

"It is essential that all websites, especially high-profile ones like this, have been properly hardened to prevent hackers from injecting malicious code onto what should be legitimate web pages," he continued.

Sophos has reported the issue to Sony. In the meantime, surfers are advised to avoid the site.

The hackers have timed the attack to coincide with the release of version 2.4 of the firmware for the PS3, presumably realising that the PlayStation site would see an increase in traffic at this time.

www.sophos.com