Sony share price down, PlayStation’s online store gets hacked

Sony Corp was victimized by another hacker attack, this time the hit was aimed at its PlayStation store, which resulted in two hours of downtime.

Todays cyber assault follows last months hacking of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s computer network, the outcome of which was the illegal release of several of its films, including Brad Pits Fury and the upcoming Christmas movie, Annie. However, there is no information of the two being related.

“Page not found. It’s not you. It’s the internet’s fault,” was the displayed message to some users upon entering the online store, which was offline from 8.52 am to 11.18 am Tokyo time said Sony Computer Entertainment, cited by the Financial Times.

It seems that the Lizard Squad was responsible for the attack as it tweeted “PSN Login #offline #LizardSquad” moments after the store went dark. The same group also took credit for the downtime of Valves Steam on Friday and Microsoft’s Xbox Live last week, when the hackers tweeted “Xbox Live #offline”.

Sony Computer Entertainment said it has fixed the problem, but the investigation continues as the company tries to find the cause of the network crash. Sony said that there was no indication of any information being taken by the hackers. In 2011 cyber attackers stole sensitive user information from more than 100 million accounts.

The hack on Sony Pictures Entertainments network has been linked to North Korea as a probable retaliation for Sonys upcoming comedy “The Interview”, which is about a TV host who lands an interview with Kim Jong Un and is later recruited by the CIA to assassinate the North Korean leader.

In a letter to the UN, North Koreas ambassador protested against the production and said that it “should be regarded as the most undisguised sponsoring of terrorism as well as an act of war.”

However, on Sunday North Korea said it had nothing to do with the cyber attacks, although it said the breach may have been “a righteous deed of the supporters and sympathizers with the DPRK in response to its appeal.” The abbreviation stands for Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s formal name.

Sony Pictures Entertainment has approached the Federal Bureau of Investigation and hired cyber-security company FireEye to uncover the way hackers breached the company’s systems.

Sony Corp gained 1.29% on Friday, but fell 3.25% on Monday and closed at ¥2 590, marking a one-year increase of 40.91%. The company is valued at 3.08 trillion. According to the Financial Times, the 17 analysts offering 12-month price targets for Sony Corp have a median target of ¥2 850, with a high estimate of ¥3 700 and a low estimate of ¥1 400. The median estimate represents a 10.04% increase from the last price of ¥2 590.