Twice-Hacked Sony Responds to US House of Reps

Not even Crash Bandicoot can save us now.

"Oh crap! ...Can't we call in Mario?"

Things just keep getting worse for the company that helped bring CD-based console gaming out of the dark ages and Blu-Ray discs into the mainstream: According to Sony, the personal information of 24.6 million Sony Online Entertainment users, possibly including 20,000 credit card numbers and expiration dates, has been compromised by hackers.

The news comes in the wake of a recent cyber attack against PlayStation 3 users that culled the personal information – and possibly credit card numbers – of all 77 million PlayStation Network profiles. Both attacks likely took place around the same time.

Sony Online Entertainment, a division of the electronics giant that handles the online components of computer games like the recently released DC Universe Online, shut down their services on Monday night after learning of the intrusion. As of 3 p.m. on May 4, 2011, both Sony’s PC gaming servers and PlayStation Network remain unavailable.

Today, in a letter responding to several questions posed to the company by the U.S. House of Representatives, Sony claimed that forensic teams studying the attack discovered a file marked “anonymous” on the hacked PSN servers that contained the words “We are Legion.” Anonymous is a hacker group that took responsibility for a recent “denial of service” attack on Sony and its customers, and – through they denied any involvement from the beginning – may have aided in or orchestrated the newest security breaches that shut down PSN and SOE services.

This is Anonymous. Apparently, they are Legion.
And Legion told them to stop people from playing Call of Duty.

“Whether those who participated in the denial of service attacks were conspirators or whether they were simply duped into providing cover for a very clever thief, we may never know,” said Sony in their response to the House of Representatives.

Apparently, the Anonymous group attacked Sony in response to the company’s decision to take legal action against PS3 exploit artist George Hotz.

Sony’s response to the House of Representatives can be found in its size 2 font entirety here.