Infamous hacking group, Anonymous, began a series of attacks against Sony earlier today, bringing down several Sony sites and the PlayStation Network. However, a radical offshoot of the main group believe that the attacks aren’t enough, and are prepared to take the fight to a more severe level.

Initially claiming that they would seek revenge against Sony for their legal action against Geohot and other PS3 hackers, the group successfully DDoS’d PlayStation.com and the PlayStation Store under a group called OpSony. Now, a more more aggressive and darker group called SonyRecon have begun a series of more personal attacks.

Speaking on the OpSony IRC, user randomtask announced his new group:

ok i made a chan #sonyrecon for people to gather and contribute dox, and work towards a common goal of finding and information and detailing useful targets some one got the phone number of the head of the sony company in #sonyrecon

Dox is where a hacker gets another person’s identity, such as the name of the person, telephone number, pictures, home address, email, IP address, family members and relatives names etc. and then uses this to their advantage, mainly fraud.

Update: Other Dox attacks highlighted by the group could include:

Craigslist – Make a ad in the “free stuff” section, or in “erotic services” and “casual encounters” as is evident here there are many horny men who will relentlessly pursue someone who they believe to be 19/f. STD Postcards – send one of these e-postcards notifying the target that one of their previous sexual partners has a STD. Makes for an uncomfortable wait for them. Alternatively call an AIDS hotline and ask them to anonymously tell the target they could have HIV, thats a 6 month wait until the test comes back. Free UPS Boxes create an account and order the target a couple of hundred boxes & labels, fedex also offer free boxes. Google Maps use Google maps to locate local businesses to mess with the target. Call them: Skype – Use skype to call the target. When you first register a skype account you get one free call… IP Relay – Ask the operator not to announce at the start of the call. This is a service only available to people in the USA.

Currently SonyRecon is only kicking off, but the group have already uncovered Sony employees’ family records and personal details. We’ve left out links to the details, and the actual information included so that the employees details are not further compromised, but it is worrying that the group could uncover information so quickly.

For example, Robert S. Wiesenthal, Group Executive, Sony Corporation, leading Corporate Development and Mergers and Acquisitions at Sony headquarters’ family history is currently being released onto the internet. His marital status, age, place of address, education and even whether he has children has been discovered. Other main targets include Nicole Seligman and Sony boss Howard Stringer, but multiple Sony employee emails are noted as future targets. In fact, one anon complained “No one found ANY info on Stringers kids?”

Meanwhile, both OpSony and SonyRecon have targeted those involved in the actual lawsuit against Geohot, with members of OpSony singling out the judge of the case.

SonyRecon founder randomtask stated:

sony , the judge and sonys lawyers are all valid targets

SonyRecon have also began compiling personal information of the lawyers as well as the plaintiffs involved in the case.

Update 2: The website of the company handling Sony’s case has been brought down.

Update 3: One SonyRecon member boasted on the IRC (unconfirmed that he actually did it):

lol well like 30 min ago i left chocolate rain on the judge’s voicemail lawl

The extent of the attacks remains to be seen, but PlayStation LifeStyle will keep you updated.