Hacking collective Anonymous alleges attack on Sony
Group claims electronic warfare in support of Geohot and PlayStation 3 piracy
A group of hackers known simply as Anonymous has claimed to be planning and perpetrating a series of hacking attacks on Sony in support of two of the hackers implicated in the PS3 jalibreaking furore.
Action, the group says, will be taken in response to the company's continued legal pursuit of George 'Geohot' Hotz and Alexander Egorenkov, or Graf_Chokolo.
Anonymous is a collection of hackers with an anti-corporate agenda and a track-record of successfully disruptive tactics. Previously, the group has claimed responsibility for denial of service (DOS) attacks on Mastercard and Amazon for their compliance with US government demands to stop doing business with Wikileaks.
You have victimised your customers merely for possessing and sharing information, and continue to target every person who seeks this information.
Anonymous
The group also claims to have brought down the website of the right wing fundamentalist Christian group the Westboro Baptist Church and infiltrated the email system of security firm HBGary.
A statement issued as a press release on the group's website announces the group's intentions to make Sony the next target.
"Congratulations, Sony," reads the announcement. "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.
"You have abused the judicial system in an attempt to censor information on how your products work. You have victimised your customers merely for possessing and sharing information, and continue to target every person who seeks this information.
"In doing so, you have violated the privacy of thousands. This is the information they were willing to teach to the world for free. The very same information which you wish to suppress for the sake of corporate greed and the complete control of users."
As damning as the group's statement is, there also appears to be some unrest in its ranks in respect to the correct course of action. Last month, a splinter group claiming to be made up of former Anonymous members contacted Forbes and Gawker, calling themselves Backtrace Security.
That group claims that the current members of Anonymous have lost sight of the original mission statement for the group, being sidelined into 'hactivism' instead of playful mischief. As a result, Backtrace Security has threatened to release the details of several anonymous members.
The group also handed over logs from a private IRC channel known as #HQ which belongs to Anonymous, showing the group's plans to infiltrate HBGary as well as other evidence of criminal activities, information certain to be of interest to US authorities.
"The bastards are becoming arrogant sociopaths," Backtrace Security member A5h3r4 told Gawker. "Acting first, not thinking of the consequences. They're recruiting children. I am a pretty far left person - I believe in privacy and free expression, but Anonymous is a vigilante group now. A mob without conscience. And I worry they will radicalise even more. In short, I believe they're on their way to becoming a genuine threat."
Whether the group's efforts will have any bearing on the Sony case remains to be seen, but the platform holder is already heavily invested in the case, which Hotz is contesting. No public evidence of a successful attack on Sony has yet to come to light.
i wonder what bits of sony they will attack..
Am I the only one to see a contradiction here? Maybe it depends on the country, but I don't believe that being left means democracy, privacy, free expression or anything. Probably this guy is just confused and his accusations are worthless.
Personally, I wouldn't mind a Robin Hood setting some limits to big companies. If not with force, how can anyone impose something to Sony? Even the stop they had, enforced by the law, on importing consoles in Europe couldn't stop them from doing so. They're pretty untouchable by the law and yet they take advantage of the law to suit two persons. I'd be quite happy to see Sony forced to retire all of their accusations because of heavy attacks.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by gi biz on 4th April 2011 11:16am
@Robert: I'm wondering aswell, but they won't gain much support if it affects every player on PSN at that time, hacking and cracking something is one thing...sharing it with the world and opening the floodgates to piracy is another, in my opinion Sony is doing the right thing...costly but correct.
"The bastards are becoming arrogant sociopaths," Backtrace Security member A5h3r4 told Gawker. "Acting first, not thinking of the consequences. They're recruiting children. I am a pretty far left person - I believe in privacy and free expression, but Anonymous is a vigilante group now. A mob without conscience. And I worry they will radicalise even more. In short, I believe they're on their way to becoming a genuine threat."
Offtopic:
For some reason, reading that, it sounded like a piece out of Metal Gear Solid...I'm playing peace walker right now...oh well...Militaires Sans Frontičres!! :P
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Joffrie Diependaele on 4th April 2011 11:19am
Well, if all these hackers (and Hotz specifically) claim that this all started from the desire to create homebrew, I think Sony should bring back Net Yaroze! I remember playing some cracking little games that came included on the Official PlayStation Magazine demo discs, and with the nature of 'bedroom coders' in a strong state I think it could result in some good output nowadays.
This group is not that sort of hacker. If i would be Sony, probably would be more beneficial to hire Geohot. It is very difficult to find talented people who can think out of the box. What he did is nothing sort of astonishing, if you ignore his rants...
Geohot is very smart and tallented, no doubt but he is also a risk.
He has shown he is a lose cannon and thinks that he has the right to do what he wants.
Maybe when he matures a little but I honestly dont see him changing any time soon.
No, the group claims that was a publicity scam by the Westboro Baptist Church, who are now getting seriously desperate trying to drum up attention after losing half their congregation during the burn the Koran fiasco.
"Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer". I know a number of people not unlike him. Focus, goals, and acknowledgment. But thats not my point - if he does not work for you, he might work against you.
But they did not reverse engineer PS3 security system. Their skills are not that unique.
Yeah, the Yarooze console was a nice opportunity for homebrew software.
Even if I donīt hate sony as much as others, Iīm still angry for killing lik-sang*! Sony showed that they donīt like games getting imported from china and other countries.
It was a big kick in the n*** at that time for every "gamingfreak". Especially gamer from germany, -the country most games are cut (not to count australia), haveī been punished.
Seeing "hackers" attack sony will be intresting. Iīm not saying itīs the right thing to do but itīll be definetly interesting.
At least sony made a little apology with the ps3 by making the games codefree.
*(with the indirect support of nintendo)
Edited 3 times. Last edit by Joe Winkler on 4th April 2011 2:20pm
That keep them happy for a bit....
Maybe not, but it sounds like their aims are less serious and disruptive than breaking the core security for a multi-billion dollar piece of hardware; i.e. 'playful mischief'. Whether their hacking skills come close to Hotz or fail0verflow I couldn't say (I know nothing about the hacking scene or notable hackers), but they seem more mature and sensible in their responses.
"Am I the only one to see a contradiction here? Maybe it depends on the country, but I don't believe that being left means democracy, privacy, free expression or anything. Probably this guy is just confused and his accusations are worthless. "
Leftists in general are. They like paying lip service to those ideas. I refer to the modern left. The original left (mostly classical liberals against monarchical privilege) is a different story.
"That group claims that the current members of Anonymous have lost sight of the original mission statement for the group, being sidelined into 'hactivism' instead of playful mischief. As a result, Backtrace Security has threatened to release the details of several anonymous members. "
I can see why they say this.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Anthony A on 4th April 2011 2:49pm
Seriously, if game pricess came down it would make the business better. And Im more likely to choose a new game rather then used or get a free cheap buggy pirated copy that needs loads a mods to make work.
On the features I wish sony had, is the ability to copy, move and use game saves between differant playstations and accounts. Its a pain to be tied up to a single playstation. And id like to go to a friends house with my game saves to continue the game save their and back. And it would be cool to store them on an SD card or flash drive. Another feature I would like is the ability to save installers on external media, such as flash drives and hard drives. And another would be to be able to hook up any hard drive to the playstation for use. Mine is full and its a pain everytime to manage your data, when you want to install a new game, or download a game everytime you wanna play it. The PSN account can act as a key to authorize those games to be played on a console. And it would only need to be coneccted to internet only to install and comfirm its a legal copy. Once installed you dont need a constant internet connection. I prefer to have all downloaded software as a hard copy elseware as back up.
I know sony incorperated a feature in the PSN Plus service were you pay a fee, that allows you to transport game saves, but it still sucks because not all my friends have internet connection. Cause then when i leave my friends house I have to save the updated save back to the internet and redownload it back at home. Its a pain, a hastle, aggrivating. It would be nice to just slip em in an SD card and go anyware.
And as far as the hacker group claiming rights to privacy and stuff, I agree, but in this country, people like to brag about their rights, such as prvacy and free speach, which is fine. But whatever happen to your responsibility as a citizen. And i think piracy is wrong, simply because as an artist it really hurts you. I dont mind the system being hacked if its to add new features or personal use, but most people will hack the system to use pirated software. I do think game prices are too hi and I cant blame people for resorting to piracy or used game sales. And I find myself more compelled to buy new games if they are cheaper. Cause at 60$ a piece its too much.
In the short 50 years of computing history, no one won a battle like this. Banks also usually hire those who manage their systems (offering them a job vs immediately reporting them to the police was a common practice in the 80s and 90s), as it is very difficult to find someone who understands their system from the security point, and that persons already know too much.
Sony will probably win the lawsuit. Nintendo had a superficially similar issue. Ever heard of 10NES and Rabbit chip? Although it seemed an obvious win, Nintendo rather settled it out of court.
Like infiltrating Habbo Hotel and closing down the pool due to AIDS? It was hilarious, yeah, but when various individuals and groups try to censor free speech on the internet who else is better qualified to stand up against them? Regardless of how you feel about Anonymous, they're the only group willing to do something about those people we all know and hate. Does anyone feel sorry for the DDoS against Westboro? Or the complete and utter annihilation of Hal Turner? Don't you all wish something could be done about the insanity that is Scientology or the incompetence of companies like HBGary?
These Backtrace guys may be sad that their group of trolls has evolved into something bigger and scarier, but Anonymous provides a service to everyone that is tired of watching evil people get away with evil acts because our current system doesn't adequately protect the individual. Their attacks, while ultimately irrelevant, are more than anyone else has done against the infringement of personal rights that has been perpetuated for far too long.
PS
Students who have no real world experience should refrain from foolish comments.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by David Hernandez on 4th April 2011 5:30pm
* Geohot wants to be able to run his own code on a PS3.
* Sony and others (e.g. developers) want to minimise piracy.
* Users do not want to compromised security - the next step is going to be worms, viruses.
* Pirates need not to be aware that there is an easy way to pirate BEFORE a fix is available
How is this lawsuit is going to help anyone involved?
That's a bit presumptuous isn't it? How do you know those people are not mature students, or going to night school while they work in a 9-5 job?!
Anonymous is nothing but a bunch of spoiled brats only to make a name for themselves.. They are just some vandalists, nothing more, nothing less..
Well said.
I hope Sony gets their names, because this kind of hacking is clearly illegal. They are not some sort of rebels that try to fight a bad system they just want to cause damage.
And geomoron wants to run his own code on a PS3? Easy make yourself a PS3. The one Sony makes is not for that purpose. Deal with it!
simple fact is that sony should welcome these people as they know how the system of the PS3 works and its better to have these types of people on your side then againist you.
As for piracy,the fact is it alive and well and can not be stopped untill games are cheaper and made better then it will most likely go down and sales increase,but it will never stop.
i buy most of my games when on sale as they are too much at $70-$100+ each game and some are censored or banned (in australia)
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Jamie Watson on 5th April 2011 12:58am
For a coder this is somethink akin to an artist not being able to draw on a surface without the permission of a notebook manufacturer. Self expression - some people write code for calculators. To do things that no one did before, or better. Just take a look at one of the 64k or 4k demos. Or .kkrieger for a game.
While its easy to blame him fir the resulting situation, it was well known he is working on this, especially after Sony removed otherOs.
Was playing online the other day and got disconnected had to wait a bit to get back online and play with my friends.
Sorry, but however you want to color it this is wrong, it affected the users more then it did Sony probably, I came back from a long day and wanted to enjoy some gaming time just to be countered by this crap, so yeh, way to make your point to the people anonymous...not only that, they hit Sony when the people in Japan are just restoring from a major earthquake, people are getting back to their normal lifes, they couldn't have picked a better time right?
For all the people backing them up, I said it before, Jailbreaking and buying and cracking your own hardware is one thing, encountering someone who hacked thanks to the jailbreak which makes an online game impossible is another...
When you buy a PC, you buy the hardware and a license to use Windows, you don't OWN Windows, if you buy a Playstation you own the hardware, not the OS running on it, if you change any of it...yeh :)
how very childish this is...
Edited 2 times. Last edit by Joffrie Diependaele on 5th April 2011 8:50am
Of course the PS3 is made to have code run on it. What a daft thing to say.
If a major company like sony is sueing an individual thereīs no big chance to win in court, is there? I would have done the same if I hacked the "gibson" and needed help to get protectet. What the meassures are is a diffrent kind of thing.
Re"As for piracy,the fact is it alive and well and can not be stopped untill games are cheaper and made better then it will most likely go down and sales increase,but it will never stop. "
Again price and quality? Price sure, cheaper games may make people less likely to pirate, but Ģ5 games still get torrented, heck 59p iPhone games get pirated. But quality? Come on, this is a deeply flawed argument, good games get pirated far more than crap games. Only the chronically curious or someone with a particular type of OCD would bother pirating something they thought was going to be crap before they played it. Most people who are going to pirate are going to first go for the games that they think they are going to enjoy most.