Fed up to the back-teeth with PlayStation 3 hackers, Sony has issued a statement via the official PlayStation Blog in a hope to deter anyone who currently has a hacked console, or plans on running “circumvention devices” or “pirated software” on the system.

The announcement, posted by Social Media Manager Jeff Rubenstein states that “consumers must immediately cease use and remove all circumvention devices and delete all unauthorized or pirated software from their PlayStation 3 systems”. Those who fail to do so will have their access to the PlayStation Network terminated permanently.

Judging by some of the replies on the PlayStation blog, the community appears to be largely behind Sony’s tough stance, referring specifically to those pirates who use exploits and hacks to improve their online performance, yet hardly anyone mentions the hackers that run alternative operating systems and homebrew applications. The statement also appears to apply solely to the former, though it's worth noting that Sony has made its stance crystal clear in recent weeks having filed a lawsuit against PS3 hacker George Hotz who became the first person to "jailbreak" the console.

"Circumvention devices and game piracy damage our industry and can potentially injure the online experience for you, our loyal PlayStation customers, via hacks and cheats, reads part of the statement".

“By identifying PlayStation 3 systems that breach our guidelines and terminating their ability to connect to PlayStation Network, we are protecting our business and preserving the honest gameplay experiences that you expect and deserve.

There are already reports that some consumers with hacked consoles have received warning notifications from Sony when trying to sign into the PlayStation Network.

The official statement can be read in full on the PlayStation Blog.