Anonymous hackers hack Sony PlayStation Network (PSN) ?

I want to write about games. Hacking was never on the agenda. But, the uninspiring message: 'PSN is undergoing maintenance' displayed each time I try and use an online feature is starting to... well you know!

Last night Sony confessed that an 'external intrusion' caused the company to take-down the PlayStation Network and also Sony's Qrioshity service in an effort "to verify the smooth and secure operation of our network services going forward".

Sony are not sharing any other information nor are they providing a time scale as to when gamers will be able to resume playing online not to mention the ability to download exciting demos like Infamous 2 Beta and Blockbuster movies!

Sounds like an 'Anonymous' user either related to the Anonymous group or otherwise has slipped in through the backdoor and has been busy setting up several payloads.

Sony had better do a very good job of cleaning this mess up, else things could get a lot worse. I do not need to mention in great detail that if you have ever used your credit card to purchase a game or movie, your credit card details are stored online (albeit encrypted). These may have already fallen into the wrong hands. Cah-ching!

Today, Saturday April 23rd, 2011 the UK PlayStation 3 site remains offline along with the European PlayStation store. The entire PlayStation online gaming service (PSN) is still down too. Boo!

This is a major inconvenience for all. However...

Anonymous have more razor sharp points than a set of Gordon Ramsay's knives.

It all started when Anonymous kindly promised Sony,

"You have now received the undivided attention of Anonymous. Your recent legal action against our fellow hackers, GeoHot and Graf_Chokolo, has not alarmed us, it has been deemed wholly unforgivable.

Now you will experience the wrath of Anonymous.

You saw a hornets’ nest, and stuck your penises in it.

You must face the consequences of your actions.

Anonymous style."

BIG WORDS! Words so big, they have taken Sony off-line since Wednesday 20th April 2011. In financial terms especially with the UK holidays this may have lost Sony hundreds of thousands if not millions.

Both GeoHot and Graf_Chokolo are geniuses! I am not going to go in to what these guys achieved, your best bet is to head over to wikipedia for George Hotz and PS3hax.net where GeoHot talks about Graf Chokolo for further information as their sites are just shells of a yesteryear explaining that their efforts for the good of all mankind have had to cease as Sony threw its solid 24K gold legal fists around in true rocky fashion.

However, interestingly enough, Anonymous stated "PSN Outage April 22 - For Once We Didn't Do It!"

They go on to say,

"While it could be the case that other 'Anons' have acted by themselves AnonOps was not related to this incident and does not take responsibility for whatever has happened. A more likely explanation is that Sony is taking advantage of Anonymous' previous ill-will towards the company to distract users from the fact that the outage is actually an internal problem with the company's servers."

You can keep up to date with 'Anonymous' here unless their server becomes subject of a DoS attack.

If Anonymous admitted that they were behind the latest PSN outage, their efforts are unlikely to be supported by the majority of gamers. To me sounds like a double-bluff. I think Anonymous are behind this attack and their message is being heard loud and clear regardless of whether they publicly acknowledge their involvement.

On a closing note, I know how upset many gamers will be, but let us not get too angry with Anonymous' actions. Their actions are well considered and serve a genuine purpose. Sony's stance on who owns what affects all of us both in the short term and long term. If we buy a product we should be entitled to use it as we see fit. Currently even though we have shelled out hundreds of pounds, Sony only want us to 'rent' the technology.

A modded platform does not lead all gamers down the road of piracy and even if someone were tempted that priacy never killed the PS1 or PS2. It also goes without saying that innovation only leads to greater advancements.

Don't punish your consumers Sony in an effort to control everything.

For those readers who want to know what all this about, tune in here.