by Stacy Jones on May 05, 2011
Sony has provided new news relating to its security breach to members of Congress. In an 8-page written response to a list of questions dispatched a letter to Sony Chairman Kazuo Hirai last week from members of the Congressional Subcommittee, Hirai explained that the hacker group Anonymous might be behind the attack that potentially compromised the personal account details of now more than 100 million Playstation Network and Sony Online Entertainment users. In his response, Hirai explains that during the investigation into the breach it was discovered that a file had been planted on one of SOE's servers named "Anonymous" with the words "We are Legion" attached, a slogan often used by the hacktivist group.
The note indicates that the SOE and PSN servers came under attack following a DNS attack launched by Anonymous. Anonymous denied involvement in the attacks last month in a release to website AnonNews stating, "for once we didn't do it."
According to a report from UK Reuters, SOE has enlisted the aid of three Internet forensic security firms: Data Forte, Guidance Software, and Robert Half International subsidiary Protiviti to investigate the attacks, discover what data was lost and find out who is responsible for the attack that has essentially crippled all of Sony's online services around the world.
PSN services are expected to begin a phased resumption of service this week, but SOE will be offline until Friday at the earliest according SOE spokeswoman Taina Rodriguez, who informed The San Diego Union-Tribune of the news. Stay tuned and we'll update you when we have more.
Sources:
UK Reuters
Gamasutra
The San Diego Union-Tribune
Letter from Sony Chairman Kazuo Hirai to Congressional Subcommittee