It's been almost three weeks now of sadness for PS3 gamers and Sony. Hackers were able to break through Sony's security, comprising the private information of millions of users and Sony responded by disabling the services to launch a full-fledge investigation where the FBI are now involved.

With lawsuits against Sony in the works, the situation was made worse this week as a second attack resulted in the take down of SOE, rendering popular MMOs like EverQuest, DC Universe Online and Star Wars Galaxies unplayable for the time being. It can't get any worse, right? Wrong. A third attack may be on the way...

CNET has the exclusive from an observer/participant in one of the hackers' IRC chats that they are preparing for a third assault against "Sony's website" this weekend. If they were able to succeed, consumer confidence in Sony's ability to handle the situation and bounce back with sufficient security measures may be broken.

What the goals of the hackers are at this point, or even if it's the same group responsible for the first two intrusions and this potential third are anybody's guess but Anonymous is not enjoying the spotlight and blame, denying they had involvement despite evidence of the contrary.

With the FBI, the Department of Justice, Congress and countless international authorities investigating the matter and demanding answers, hacking Sony even more may not be a wise idea (not that it ever was). But if it gets them caught and Sony's services up and running, then whatever. This is becoming a tiresome parody of itself and not only is Sony sick of their stock prices falling, but we gamers are sick of not being able to do what we enjoy.

Let's hope the same doesn't happen for other online services we love and more importantly, that no one's financials are in jeopardy with the potential theft of credit card information.

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Source: CNET