Sony became the latest target of Anonymous fury and retaliation, as the loosely structured group launched a series of their trademark DDoS attacks on the company for their recent legal actions against PS3 hackers George “GeoHot” Hotz and Alexander “graf_chokolo” Egorenkov. It appears, however, that the entertainment giant has decided not to go down without a fight and has called upon some outside help in an attempt to keep their attackers at bay.
PlaystationLifeStyle.net writer Sebastian Moss has posted portions of an IRC chat between himself and an apparent Anonymous member who goes by the handle “Takai,” which indicated that Sony has enlisted the help of both DDoS protection firm Prolexic and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.
“It was expected. We knew sooner or later Sony would enlist outside help,” Takai told Moss during the chat. The Anonymous hacker admitted that the firm “is quite formidable” but stated that the group has “ways for dealing with the ‘Prolexic’ factor.”
“Well, if I had to put money on it … I’d say, Prolexic is going down like a two dollar wh*** in a Nevada chicken ranch,” Takai said, noting that the #OpSony initiative was only just beginning. “For the sake of not shooting ourselves in the foot, I won’t comment on specific operational tactics we may or may not employ here. I will however say, that if Sony thinks LOIC is the only trick in our hat … they’re in for a hell of a wake up call. We’re really going all out for this one.”
Takai also addressed concerns over Anonymous plans to target Sony employees and their family members with other malicious hijinks.
“If you mean, would we endanger someone’s personal safety or that of their family, the answer is no. We’ve already made it clear in Sony Recon that pranks like bomb threats, or false fire alarms are considered out of bounds. That would impede emergency responders from dealing with actual emergencies and thus endanger people,” Takai said, and added, “If a few VP’s wake up to 20 boxes of KY jelly at their front door, it’ll be great for lulz.”
While there was some concern that the FBI was listening in on Anonymous chats, Takai seemed undaunted by any sort of legal threat, stating that “they have bigger things to worry about than I.”
“If they want to hang out and chat, by all means,” Takai added, jokingly. “Maybe they can help ddos!.. I hear the government has a fast connection or two.”
One thing that Moss’ chat records made clear was that Anonymous has intentions to carry on with #OpSony for quite some time. Stay tuned for more on the situation as it develops.
