Anonymous: 10 Most Epic Hacks So Far

1. Operation Sony

The big one. An action that began in 2010, with a series of web-based actions against a Bollywood production company over their attack on file-sharing sites such as Pirate Bay, culminated in Operation Sony in 2011. Sony had just begun a series of lawsuits against George Hotz for creating and publishing information on how to jailbreak and use the PlayStation 3. In an initial wave of attacks, Anonymous took down PlayStation.com and the PlayStation store using DDoS blasts. More attacks followed. The username, emails and financial information of millions of users and Sony execs were stolen and Sony suddenly found itself facing an embarrassing public shaming, not to mention a drop in stocks. The attacks cost Sony over an estimated $24 billion dollars and set the corporate community into a spin. Major corporations realized the increasing threat of sophisticated cyber-attacks and began launching updated security software to protect their information. Sony's loss of reputation and profits was massive: the company had to close down its online gaming network for the majority of Spring 2011, as a series of lawsuits began flooding in. Further, credit card companies claimed it would cost over $300 million to repair the damage created by Sony€™s information theft and threatened to add to the company€™s financial and legal woes. Some branches of Anonymous deny it was a sponsored attack, others claim that it was and its purpose was to disrupt and send a message to corporate entities. This question of responsibility heightened when some of the stolen information was used for illegal financial scams. Regardless of the individual identities of the persons who performed this hack, the influence this action had on the image and legitimacy of the collective idea known as Anonymous was immeasurable. It signaled that no one was immune, that they were watching, and they were, unarguably, legion.