14 DAY TRIAL // According to reports, a group of hackers is preparing to launch a new attack against Sony's systems in response to how the company handled the PlayStation Network (PSN) breach.
CNET quotes a confidential source familiar with the group's plans who says the hackers already claim to have access to some of Sony's servers and plan to carry out the new attack this weekend.
Their intention is to document the whole attack and publicize the information they are able to extract from the company's systems, whether it's customer personal information or credit card details.
It's not clear if the hackers will still go ahead with their plan, if it was even real, now that the news is out and Sony will be on alert.
It's also not clear what kind of systems the hackers already have access to and whether these contain any personal information.
Since PlayStation Network and Sony Online Entertainment servers are already offline, the largest repositories of sensitive information are out of the equation.
The identity of the hacking group has not been revealed, so we cannot verify if they are also responsible for other attacks or if they only assembled recently for this particular operation.
At the moment Sony's resources are committed to rebuilding and restoring access to its popular PlayStation Network and Sony Online services. Its ability to inspect non-critical systems across its entire infrastructure for signs of compromise might be reduced.
In a letter to Congress, Kazuo Hirai, chairman of Sony Computer Entertainment, described the attacks that led to the compromise of personal, and in some cases financial, information of over 75 million customers, as highly sophisticated and planned.
The company suggested that the Anonymous collective might be responsible and some details hinting in this direction were found during the investigation, however, the hacktivist group strongly denies any involvement.