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Tupac hackers to Sony: 'Beginning of the end'

A hacker group known as LulzSec says it's targeting Sony in a new attack on the embattled company. Its operation is called "Sownage," shorthand for Sony Ownage.

Don Reisinger
CNET contributor Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has covered everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Besides his work with CNET, Don's work has been featured in a variety of other publications including PC World and a host of Ziff-Davis publications.
Don Reisinger
3 min read
LulzSec is taking tweet shots at Sony.
LulzSec is taking tweet shots at Sony. Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET

A group that made headlines for hacking the PBS Web site earlier this week is apparently turning its attention to Sony.

The group known as LulzSec has been promising Sony attacks since this past weekend when it posted to its Twitter account that it is engaged in an operation it calls "Sownage," shorthand for Sony Ownage. The group stated at the time that it was working on hatching a plan that would be the "beginning of the end" for Sony. It has yet to reveal what it has planned. But yesterday the group said that the attack was already under way, seemingly without Sony's knowledge.

"Hey @Sony, you know we're making off with a bunch of your internal stuff right now and you haven't even noticed?" LulzSec tweeted. "Slow and steady, guys."

Sony has been in the crosshairs of hackers for quite some time now. In April, the company's PlayStation Network and Qriocity services were breached by hackers, forcing the company to take them offline. Sony Online Entertainment was also attacked and subsequently taken down. Following the breach, Sony announced that the personal information of over 100 million of its users was stolen. However, the company said credit card information was encrypted and, so far, no identity theft has been reported.

After protracted downtime, Sony finally partially restored the PlayStation Network in mid-May in the U.S. and Europe after improving the security of the services. Japan and Asian countries had the PlayStation Network partially restored over the weekend.

Speculation abounds over who attacked Sony. The game company found a file on servers that indicated the well-known hacking organization Anonymous might have been behind the attack. That file was titled "Anonymous" and included part of the group's slogan, "We are Legion."

However, Anonymous has formally denied claims that it was behind the attack, saying that it would "not take responsibility for what happened." It did acknowledge, though, that some of its members may have acted independently to attack Sony's servers.

For its part, LulzSec has also distanced itself from the PlayStation Network hack. The organization took to its Twitter account yesterday to use some choice words to express its innocence.

"You Sony morons realize we've never attacked any of your precious gaming, right?" the group tweeted.

On the PBS front, however, LulzSec has been more than happy to gloat about its hacking prowess. The group wrote on its Twitter account that it was having a "fun battle" with PBS as it posted a fake news story claiming famed musical artist Tupac was still alive. The group also reportedly published the log-in data, including passwords, of PBS workers. The attack resulted from the airing of a "Frontline" episode on PBS, called "WikiSecrets," that shed an unfavorable light on WikiLeaks--an opinion that LulzSec reportedly took issue with.

LulzSec has stopped short of revealing its plans for Sony. But even today, it continues to promise big things for operation Sownage.

"Keep on crying, Sony fanboys," the group tweeted today. "Your tears create the sea and your whining creates the wind that we so gracefully use to traverse onward."

Sony did not immediately respond to CNET's request for comment.