Sony names Anonymous as PSN hack suspect

The fanatical online activist group Anonymous has been named by Sony as a suspect of the PlayStation Network data breach.

“We discovered that the intruders had planted a file on one of our Sony Online Entertainment servers named ‘Anonymous’ with the words ‘We are Legion’,” the company said.

The "we are legion" motto is a common send-off from members of the so-called ‘hactivist’ network Anonymous.

Anonymous had previously denied involvement in the illegal hack.

Last month the group issued a message on YouTube which claimed the PSN breach was not part of its scheduled operations.

It said it could not account for all supporters and members of Anyonymous.

Today Sony said it has been the victim of “a very carefully planned, very professional, highly sophisticated criminal cyber attack”.

[TIMELINE – THE PSN ATTACK AND COLLAPSE]

In April, over 100 million Sony customer accounts had been exposed to an unauthorised user.

Develop understands the hacker came from the US.

SECOND ACCUSATION

This is not the first time Sony has implied Anonymous is a suspect of the PSN breach.

On Sunday, Sony’s second-in-command Kaz Hirai revealed suspicions that Anonymous had been involved in the illegal hacking of its servers.

“While there may be no relation [to the PSN breach], we have also received attacks from the internet group Anonymous, who [have] personal information of Sony’s top management and have publicised personal information about their families, their names, and information attributed to their [children ’s] schools,” he said.

“These kinds of sequential attacks on a company may not be limited only to Sony, but, in addition to our own initiatives, we will cooperate and work with law enforcement agencies to continuously combat illegal intrusions, to preserve the security of customer data, as well as the safety of the networked society.”

Hirai and his colleagues mentioned Anonymous several times, often unprovoked, throughout the two-hour press conference.

“This was a highly sophisticated attack by a highly skilled intruder who invaded the [PlayStation Network] system and took steps to cover his tracks,” Hirai said at the time.

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Today Sony claimed that “the major credit card companies have not reported any fraudulent transactions that they believe are the direct result of this cyber attack”.

Sony said it will be enhancing the PSN security grid, and has opened a new executive role to manage the system.

On Sunday, the firm apologised for insufficient security measures. It said it knew of its network’s vulnerabilities.