A Christmas day cyber attack crippled both the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live, leaving thousands of gamers unable to log in to play their new games. Both networks have been down for about 12 hours of this, although the hacking group behind it have stopped the attack after Kim Dotcom caved to their demands.
We're aware that some users are having issues logging into PSN – engineers are investigating
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) December 25, 2014
The DDoS attack appears to have been timed for just after Christmas morning in the US, where thousands would be preparing to get on their consoles and enjoy their presents. Annoyed gamers took to Twitter to express their frustration, with hacking group “Lizard Squad” claiming responsibility for the attack. Lizard Squad had previously claimed responsibility for attacks that crippled Xbox Live and Battle.net, although there have been unverified reports that at least one person from the group has already been arrested months ago.
It is difficult to say how long the initial attack was planned, as the group had originally demanded 2,000 status retweets before it would back off. However, it later deleted the post and instead demanded that Kim Dotcom of Mega provide the group with 3,000 vouchers for the service. Dotcom has responded to the request and is in the process of giving the hackers what they want.
A Christmas Miracle. How @MegaPrivacy saved @Xbox & @PlayStation from the @LizardMafia attack. Enjoy your games! 🙂 pic.twitter.com/qoaZ33eqCi
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) December 26, 2014
Cyber criminals have been having a field day in the past month, and at the rate that people have been giving in to demands it is quite likely that this trend will continue for a long time.
