Later, the statement implies that capable parties might include some of the entities Anonymous says it has made uncomfortable by posting information about them that it stole from HBGary Federal. These entities include Booz Allen Hamilton, Palantir and the U.S. Department of Justice.

"All of this is now public record, and anyone who finds it laughable that those or other entities may have again engaged in tactics that they are known to have engaged in the past is not qualified to comment on the situation," the statement says.

In the past, Anonymous has carried out DDoS attacks against businesses and national governments, and stolen information and posted it on the Internet. It often warns its victims and claims credit for what it does afterward.

In the Sony PlayStation Network case, , but that individual members of the group may have launched the attack on their own initiative.

Compared with the group's past behavior, one aspect of the Sony breach stands out as unique: The attacker left a file named "Anonymous" on a Sony including the words "We are Legion," which is part of Anonymous' motto.