PlayStation hackers arrested in Spain

[News_Editor]

PlayStation hackers arrested in Spain

2011-06-10 21:49:11 GMT+7 (ICT)

MADRID, SPAIN (BNO NEWS) -- The suspected leaders of the group of hackers behind the Sony PlayStation cyber attacks were arrested by Spanish police on Friday, officials said.

Three individuals suspected of leading the 'Anonymous' so-called hacktivist group - which in addition to the PlayStation network have allegedly carried out a number of cyber attacks against Spanish banks BBVA and Bankia, Italian energy company Ente Nazionale per l'Energia eLettrica, as well as the governments of Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Iran, Chile, Columbia and New Zealand - were arrested in the Spanish cities of Barcelona, Valencia, and Almeria.

Since October 2010, the Technology Investigation Brigade of Spain's National Police analyzed over 2 million chat conversations and websites used by hacking networks, which finally led to the arrest of the three individuals. According to Spain's Interior Ministry, all of the attacks were conducted from a server located at one of the individual's homes in Gijon.

On April 18, personal information on 77 million account holders were stolen from Sony's PlayStation Network and Qriocity media streaming service databases. In May, Sony announced that an additional 25 million accounts were hacked bringing the total to over 100 million.

The incident was highly covered by international media and an investigation was launched into the illegal intrusions, which revealed that hackers stole Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) customer information on April 16 and 17, including names, addresses, emails, birth dates, phone numbers, genders, and other information.

The intrusions were discovered by engineers and security consultants reviewing SOE systems. Sony shut down all servers related to their SOE services while continuing to review and upgrade all of its online security systems in the face of these unprecedented cyber-attacks which cost an estimated $170 million in damages.

Sony said the info did not include credit card security codes, but did include around 10,700 direct debit records of certain customers in Austria, Germany, Netherlands and Spain, as well as bank account numbers, customer names, account, names, and customer address.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-06-10

[Huey]

They should have been awarded medals. Sony put viruses on legal licensed music CD's to track and report various things on your computer. A virus that left a window in many PC's for Hackers to exploit.

F! Sony I say.