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“We are Legion.” So said a file – titled “Anonymous,” naturally – that Sony allegedly discovered while combing through the smoldering wreckage of its hacked-to-pieces online infrastructure. Sony revealed that juicy bit of evidence in response to a Congressional hearing over data breaches, which – in itself – was the closest thing to a live evisceration you'll ever see broadcasted on CSPAN.
"In Sony’s case, company officials first revealed information about the data breach on their blog. That’s right. A blog. I hate to pile on, but—in essence—Sony put the burden on consumers to 'search' for information, instead of accepting the burden of notifying them. If I have anything to do with it, that kind of half-hearted, half-baked response is not going to fly in the future,” said Rep. Mary Bono Mack, chair of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade (via IndustryGamers).
"Yet for me, the single most important question is simply this: Why weren’t Sony’s customers notified sooner of the cyberattack? I fundamentally believe that all consumers have a right to know when their personal information has been compromised, and Sony - as well as all other companies—have an overriding responsibility to alert them... immediately."
As for the big, sloppy fingerprint allegedly left behind by Anonymous, Sony claimed it was planted on a Sony Online Entertainment server. Anonymous, of course, previously waged war on PSN via crippling DDoS attacks as a show of support for Geohot. The notorious hivemind halted its advance, however, when it realized customers were also suffering from its brand of vigilante justice. Recently, it explicitly denied any involvement with the ApocalyPSN. Obviously, Sony's file – if it's even the real deal – suggests otherwise.
But that's the problem. Is it real? Or did some villainous hacker drop the smoking gun in Anonymous' hand and make a break for it? This most recent piece of evidence doesn't really match up with Anonymous' previous actions, but the manipulative mass has more splinter groups than Facebook has groups dedicated to the TMNT character Splinter. So who knows? We don't expect we'll ever truly get to the bottom of this, but we can dream, can't we?
Comments are closed on this article
uc7
May 05, 2011 at 12:32pm
SONY
I'd like to point out that this tape has not
been tampered with or edited in any way. It even has a timecode
on it, and those are very hard to fake.JUDGE
For the benefit of the court, would you please
explain "timecode"?SONY
Just because I don't know what it is ...
doesn't mean I'm lying.
kixofmyg0t
May 05, 2011 at 9:28am
Ive made many "pro-sony" posts in the past(I have ALOT of Sony products....if Sony makes it then i have it basically) but I do agree that they should have personally contacted all PSN account holders when when this whole crap went down.
But the good news is id wager that the corperate d-bag that was in charge of this whole mess will be fired or at least moved to a different position. Sony learned their lesson and hopefully will emerge from this a better company.
Caboose
May 05, 2011 at 8:38am
I really wonder what Sony's E3 conferences are going to be like this year. IF they even hold them.
Luminosity47
May 04, 2011 at 6:57pm
It was obviously Anon., Anonymous supported Geohot all the way and then some. I never liked Sony so I don't really care to see them lose their customer base and potentially crumble. This should have been long predicted!
Long live Geohot, Anonymous and the iPhone!
thetechchild
May 04, 2011 at 8:18pm
I seriously hope that the hint of sarcasm I detect in this fake-sounding ignorant mob mentality is really there. Otherwise, you would count among the most mentally damaged persons I have ever met.
I Jedi
May 05, 2011 at 5:35am
It could have been very well a faction of anonymous. They are not a tightly regimented organization, and have their own "chapters" of indidviduals in different areas. I wouldn't put it past some pissed off faction of anonymous to do such a thing. Yes, Anonymous operates as a fighter against what it sees as corporate greed, scientologist, etc, but that doesn't mean someone from Anyoymous DIDNT do it. It could just as easily be someone trying to frame Anonymous to keep heat off of their back, who knows.
Kinetic
May 05, 2011 at 9:30am
I just don't see it. I'm not saying it's impossible, just highly unlikely. I mean, has anon ever successfully hacked a corporate databank like this before?
It sounds like Sony is just trying to pass the buck here, which doesn't really matter since the question is still why wasn't security tightened and issues fixed back during the Geohot fiasco?
Eoraptor
May 04, 2011 at 6:43pm
of course, Sony could just as easily planted the aleged file itself to CYA in face face of the fact it had probably the most porous security set up this side of an 80's hairband back-stage.
Cleaver
May 05, 2011 at 2:11am
Yeah, and anyone worht their salt is thinking the same thing.
I love sony systems, but I think for now i'll just open up notepad, write "We are Legion" in there, save it as anonymous.doc, and keep it in some obscure windows file in case I ever decide to start doing shady things such as hosting a pirate site on this rig.
"But Anonymous haXed my c0mputer! they put that stuff there. Blame them."
I can play this game too. It is fun.
nealtse
May 05, 2011 at 10:28am
I agree, if the only evidence that Sony can present is the most easily faked type of file in existence, then that will set a sad, sad precedent. Not saying it wasn't Anonymous, or sympathizers, but that's still the weakest of weak prosecutions. And yes, I am inclined to think that Sony planted it there to create an easy scapegoat.
