Hacker group hits Sony BMG

Hacker collective LulzSec has been on quite a tear of late. Less than one week after compromising some 1 million Sony Pictures accounts and one day after breaking into Nintendo's servers, the hacker group is again targeting the PlayStation maker. Today, LulzSec updated its website with a new press release announcing it had compromised Sony BMG's servers.

As proof of its trespass, LulzSec posted network maps from a Sony BMG office located in New York City, as well as 54MB worth of Sony developer source code.

"We've recently bought a copy of this great new game called 'Hackers vs Sony,' but we're unable to play it online due to [PlayStation Network] being obliterated," LulzSec said in its statement, ostensibly unaware that service has been restored to the PSN. "So we decided to play offline mode for a while and got quite a few trophies. Our latest goal is 'Hack Sony 5 Times,' so please find enclosed our 5th Sony hack."

"ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: HACK SONY 6 TIMES! Oh damn, we just did it again, please also find enclosed internal network maps of Sony BMG," the statement continued.

In a comment issued to Reuters, Sony Pictures spokesman Jim Kennedy said, "We are looking into these claims." Sony had not responded to GameSpot's request for comment as of press time.

The source of Sony's hacker issue is not explicitly clear. However, it is often attributed to the publisher's removal of the OtherOS option from the PlayStation 3 through a firmware update or its legal battle against PlayStation 3 hacker George "GeoHot" Hotz.

What is clear is the hacking community's response. Beyond the aforementioned attacks on various Sony Corp. divisions, the company's game segment has been especially hard hit. In April, hackers compromised the PSN and Qriocity services, as well as Sony Online Entertainment, exposing information from more than 100 million accounts in the process. According to Sony, the security breach has cost it $171.1 million.