Hackers taunt Sony with more data leaks, hacks
The latest hacks bring the total against Sony to 16, the group LulzSec says as it exposes data from several internal Sony networks.
The LulzSec hacker group today released what it describes as 54MB of source code from the Sony Computer Entertainment Developer Network as well as internal network maps of Sony BMG, while Sony Pictures Russia and Sony Music Brazil also were attacked.
"Konichiwa from LulzSec, Sony bastards!" the group wrote in a post on the Pirate Bay peer-to-peer sharing site. The message continues:
"We\'ve recently bought a copy of this great new game called \"Hackers vs Sony\", but we\'re unable to play it online due to PSN being obliterated. So we decided to play offline mode for a while and got quite a few trophies. Our latest goal is \"Hack Sony 5 Times\", so please find enclosed our 5th Sony hack. Enjoy this 54MB collection of SVN Sony Developer source code. That\'s hackers 16, Sony 0. Your move!"
Later, the post was updated to say: "ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: HACK SONY 6 TIMES! Oh damn, we just did it again, please also find enclosed internal network maps of Sony BMG." (A list of Sony hacks on the Attrition.org site lists 15 but does not include the latest LulzSec leak of Sony BMG data. LulzSec also says it hacked Sony BMG sites in Japan, the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as Sony Pictures.)
Sony representatives did not immediately respond to e-mails and calls seeking comment regarding the report.
The Sony Pictures Russia site. meanwhile, was offline this morning after reportedly being compromised using a SQL injection, according to a post in Pastebin. Pastebin is heavily used by hackers to post evidence of their hacks.
It's unclear who is responsible for the Sony Pictures Russia hack. LulzSec said in a tweet that it is not responsible for that attack.
Jim Kennedy, executive vice president of global communications for Sony Pictures Entertainment, provided this comment to CNET: "We are currently investigating this incident and have taken down the website that was attacked."
And over the weekend, Sony Music Brazil was found to be defaced, according to a report yesterday on The Hacker News, which shows a screenshot of the site saying on which a group called "The UnderTakers" took credit for he defacement. The Sony Music Brazil site was inaccessible this morning.
However, the Attrition.org site timeline of legacy Sony hacks lists the Sony Music Brazil as being defaced since November 2010 and said the site was removed today likely because of the media attention.
A Sony Music spokeswoman told CNET the company had no comment.
The LulzSec group, which said it had received less than $450 in contributions to its hacking fund as of Saturday, reported that someone had given it $7,200 today. The contributions are made in the form of virtual currency called BitCoins that allows people to make and receive payments without the transaction being traced to anyone.
The group also responded to a report in the Full Disclosure security e-mail list that LulzSec's private Internet Relay Chat forum had been exposed and log files released publicly, and that a member of the group was arrested.
The logs were not from a core chatting channel but instead from a channel the group uses for gathering "potential backup/subcrew research and development battle fleet members, i.e. we were using that channel only to recruit talent for side-operations," according to a LulzSec statement. The person allegedly arrested was not a part of the group, the statement said.
"Our core chatting channel remains unaffected," the group wrote. "Our core LulzSec team is at full strength. The Lulz Boat sails stronger than ever, nice try though."
Sony has been under siege by hackers since its PlayStation Network was knocked offline by the Anonymous group in early April in retaliation for the company taking legal action against PlayStation hackers. Later that month, the company warned customers about a breach that exposed customer information of millions of PlayStation, and eventually Sony Online Entertainment users. Since then, hackers seem to be hacking any Sony-related sites they can, including Sony Europe late last week.
Updated 9:50 p.m. PT with Attrition.org noting that Sony Music Brazil had been defaced for about six months and 3:30 p.m. PT with Sony Pictures Entertainment comment on Russia site hack.