With the PlayStation Network and Sony Online Entertainment suffering from outages due to a massive attack on their servers, which ended in sensitive user data becoming released to the hackers, the people at Sony responded to a Congressional subcommittee about the data breach. In the response, Sony Online Entertainment chairman, Kazo Hirari, alluded to the group Anonymous being responsible for the attack that released login information, user names, and credit card information. The letter addresses a file found on the Sony servers named “Anonymous” and pointed out that the group had admitted to conducting an attack previously. This attack was eventually called off, as the group stated they were not in place to harm users and that taking the network down had affected gamers.
In the face of the PSN attack that resulted in the stolen identity, Anonymous has been adamant about their innocence in the data stealing. Despite the postings on their Facebook account that imply or accuse the group of the attack, they have officially stated that their group was not responsible. In a letter that is reported to be an official statement from the group, and available on CNet, the group states, “While we are a distributed and decentralized group, our ‘leadership’ does not condone credit card theft.” The problem is that without a centralized leadership, there is no way to know if the person responsible for the attack was indeed a member of Anonymous, but this letter does make it clear that should a member of their organization be held responsible, it was not an “authorized” attack.
While Anonymous members have the motive and the means to conduct such an attack, there is also the possibility that the group has been framed. It’s very possible that a would-be hacker looking for the means necessary to cover their own tracks saw the original Anonymous attack as a diversion, as naturally they would look guilty. The document found on the on the Sony servers also goes against the usual Anonymous MO, including part of their motto, but not the full and usual motto they include on their attacks. The group also takes responsibility for their attacks and doesn’t hide when they are responsible for taking down a site. They have also never “stolen” information, instead, tend to focus their attacks on things that make the business suffer, not the user.
So was Anonymous framed for the PSN attacks? The answer is… maybe. Perhaps they really wanted to treat Sony a lesson and are choosing to do it this way. Maybe there is a rogue agent acting alone, and maybe it was someone who just took the opportunity. The FBI is investigating and they will surely find the guilty parties, but truthfully, we may never know if Anonymous was behind these attacks or not.
{Via: CNET }
Yes