Anonymous Claims it Hacked 10M Sony Accounts

The international hacking group Anonymous claims it has bypassed Sony security and accessed the account details of ten million PlayStation Network (PSN) users. Sony, which actually did have millions of accounts compromised back in 2011, says this current claim is false.

Anonymous used its own Twitter account to report the massive hack. "@Sony Hacked, @PlayStation Network Pwned," the tweet read. It has since been removed from Twitter.

Another tweet posted later in the day elaborated on this original note, claiming that Anonymous had infiltrated approximately ten million PSN accounts. That tweet has also been removed.

Sony Denies Hack Occurred

One Sony employee immediately took to Twitter to refute the Anonymous claim.

"Alleged PSN hack by Anonymous is totally fake," tweeted Shane Bettenhausen of Sony's business development unit. (Source: zdnet.com)

Bettenhausen's tweet was also removed soon thereafter. It was replaced in the ensuring hours by an official statement from Sony, which read:

"We've confirmed that the recent claim that PlayStation Network was illegally hacked and that customer passwords and email addresses were accessed is completely false." (Source: gamespot.com)

PSN Problems By No Means New

Regardless, the Anonymous claims about hacking Sony are likely to cause shudders among Sony's many PSN users. Back in the spring of 2011, the company's gaming network was hacked in dramatic fashion, with roughly seventy-five million accounts compromised.

Sony was forced to apologize for the breach and eventually compensated gamers with free video game downloads. It was an expensive venture, and a big reason why the company reported a $3.2 billion loss for the 2010-2011 fiscal year.

Anonymous had nothing to do with that hack. However, Sony later claimed that a file associated with Anonymous had been found on Sony Online Entertainment servers.

Some insiders suggest Sony's claim upset and offended Anonymous members, who have responded to the false charge by legitimately threatening Sony security. (Source: zdnet.com)