The story of the Anonymous hacker offensive against Sony has been a hot topic this past week. The attacks are to protest Sony’s continued legal battles against PS3 hackers. The attacks lead to intermittent downtime on the PlayStation Network (PSN).<\/p>\n
Backlash from the gaming community was understandably negative, as no one wants to be denied access to their online gaming time. Speaking in an interview with PlayStation Lifestyle<\/a>, an Anonymous ring-leader going by the handle of ‘Takai’ reasserted that Anonymous did not intend to affect Sony customers.<\/p>\n “The consumers in this are as one might call, collateral damage. We are very cognisant of the fact that we are not making friends [or] allies among the average consumer with our attack. This is unfortunate as a concern should always be, will the very people we seek to support not see what it is we are trying to achieve. In this case, many don’t. There has been a lot of hate spread throughout the internet and over forums that we are being reckless and simply punishing consumers more than Sony,” said Takai.<\/p>\n “To the consumers I would say: before you judge us, take the time to understand us.”<\/p>\n There were also concerns raised that the attacks on PlayStation Store could leave credit card details vulnerable. “I think I can safely say this on behalf of everyone: we have no malicious intent towards Sony’s consumers,” states Takai.<\/p>\n When queried as to whether a malicious hacker could take advantage of the confusion, Takai responded: “Attacks on systems are done as part of a coordinated effort. Although the operation is open to all, as is DDoSing. More detailed operational components are more controlled.”<\/p>\n