Hacktivist group Anonymous launches “payback” cyber attack on Sony

The internet “hacktivist” group known as Anonymous has launched a cyber attack against consumer electronics giant Sony, according to a post on Saturday. The group has launched an attack called #OpSony in retaliation for its pursuit of hackers George “GeoHot” Hotz and Graf_Chokolo.

The attack is considered part of Operation Payback, a series of attacks that included denial of service attacks — where a company’s internet servers are flooded with traffic in order to bring its website down — against companies that had disowned WikiLeaks after it angered the U.S. government last year by publishing hundreds of thousands of confidential diplomatic cables.

“Congratulations, Sony,” the post says. “You have now received the undivided attention of Anonymous. Your recent legal action against our fellow hackers, GeoHot and Graf_Chokolo, has not only alarmed us, it has been deemed wholly unforgivable.”

Sony is suing Hotz because he reverse engineered the PlayStation 3’s security system and posted “jailbreaking” software that allows users to run unauthorized programs on their PS 3s. Anonymous is a collective hacker group whose cyber attacks have taken a twist toward political activism. Gawker recently wrote a post about the inner workings of the group and how federal investigators are likely pursuing the group’s leaders.

The message from Anonymous said that Sony had abused the judicial system to censor information on how its products work, victimized customers for possessing and sharing information, and targeting every person who seeks that information. “In doing so, you have violated the privacy of thousands,” a reference to Sony’s attempt to find out who downloaded the jailbreaking software. Anonymous further accused Sony of “corporate greed” and seeking to control users. “Now you will experience the wrath of Anonymous. You saw a hornet’s nest and stuck your penises in it.” It went on to warn, “Expect us.”