Anonymous claims hack of Sony Pictures web site

Members of online collective Anonymous claim to have hacked the web site of Sony Pictures, in another embarrassing incident for the firm which spent much of 2011 on the defensive after numerous attacks by the group.

A Twitter user with the name s3rver.exe took responsibility for the hack and posted videos on YouTube proving the hack had taken place, although these have subsequently been taken down, while the division's Facebook page was also accessed.

"The hack wasn't big, but still the servers were vulnerable and I got access to the admin too," said a message on the site.

V3 contacted Sony for comment on the attack, but had received no reply at the time of writing.

The attack was most likely carried out as part of a planned attack by Anonymous members on organisations that are supporting the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), which has been causing heated debate in the online community.

Anonymous caused major problems for Sony in 2011 after successfully hacking into the firm's online gaming network and stealing the login information of thousands of users, forcing the system offline for several weeks.

The attack comes in the same week the organisation launched a series of attacks on neo-Nazi sites as part of its OpBlitzkrieg campaign, claiming to have gathered details of users of several sites.