Anonymous' new anti-Sony op may target employees & family

This week marked the beginning of what web hacker collective Anonymous dubbed "OpSony." The initiative, created primarily in reaction to Sony's lawsuits against George "GeoHot" Hotz and Alexander "graf_chokolo" Egorenkov for their work hacking the PlayStation 3, affected official PlayStation websites on Monday and may have even resulted in sporadic technical issues for the company's online PlayStation Network.

A new group has sprouted up in the short time since the operation's kickoff that could possibly make the recent DDoS attacks look like child's play.

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The brainchild of a single Anonymous member ironically named "randomtask," the group - called "SonyRecon" - intends to take OpSony to a whole new level, reports PlayStationLifeStyle.

The new outcropping's focus is compiling information on any and every person involved with Sony and its ongoing legal proceedings. According to randomtask, "Sony, the judge and Sony's lawyers are all valid targets."

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However, the group is also allegedly going after people on the periphery: family members, siblings and children of Sony execs. SonyRecon boasts that it has already uncovered personal information regarding company bigwigs -- from addresses to marital statuses and more that could be used for Dox attacks, which result in a person's private information being used to fraudulent ends.

It's unclear if the collected information will truly be used maliciously, or even if the OpSony proper approves. No reports so far have suggested real-life harassment or attacks as a result of SonyRecon, and the type of information purportedly being gathered can mostly be found by anyone via an online search.

Previous reports noted the public site for Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, the law firm handling Sony's case against George Hotz, had been disabled. A recent check, however, proves otherwise; the site is up.

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MyCE spoke briefly with Youness Alaoui (AKA Kakaroto), a well-known hacker familiar with both the Anonymous ops and Sony's legal pursuits, about the recent developments. Though behind the stance's spirit, Alaoui took a dim view of the overall plan.

"I think they're sick, and they're destroying our reputation and our cause," he said. "We need to fight [Sony] with our brains, not by using illegal kid attacks."

Alaoui pointed out that while gathering information isn't a crime, it's what some may do with that information that will hurt the cause. "There are stupid people who will use that information for the wrong things."

Earlier, Alaoui wrote, "Just spoke with the guy from #SonyRecon, he assures me there is nothing like that, no attacks on people and no plans to, ONLY *recon*, gathering information that is already publicly available, in the hopes of finding something incriminating to help in the lawsuit. Anonymous is against violence or threatening/attacking people. He says nothing illegal is being done, and news sites are reporting the information wrong."

Just two days in and Anonymous' anti-Sony operation has already made noticeable waves. Where it goes from here is anyone's guess. (via PlayStation LifeStyle)

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