As you all may have heard, both PlayStation Network and Xbox Live were struck by a DDoS attack on Christmas day, causing players to lose access to both of the systems’ online capabilities.
The group responsible for the attack on both Sony and Microsoft was none other than the Lizard Squad, the same hacking group responsible for the previous attacks on the networks earlier this month.
According to an interview done by Joe Tidy of Sky News, a representative of the group calling himself ‘Ryan,’ claimed the attacks were “mostly to raise awareness, to amuse ourselves.”
‘Ryan’ added: “Also, one of the big aspects here was raising awareness regarding the low state of computer security at these companies. Because these companies makes tens of millions every month just from their subscriber fees and that doesn’t even include purchases made by their customers. They should have more than enough funding to protect against these attacks.”
However, Tidy pushed against the “raising awareness” motives that ‘Ryan’ stated by pointing out how he was laughing while talking about the attack, and that their group was bragging about the attacks on their Twitter.
Yet ‘Ryan’ seemed to have little regard for those who suffered as a result of the DDoS attack, pointing out that Sony and Microsoft were the main victims in the attack rather than the hundred million people who could not access the online services of their gaming consoles on Christmas day.
“I’d be rather worried if those people didn’t have anything better to do than play games on their console on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day,” ‘Ryan’ responded. “I mean I can’t really feel bad that I might have forced a few kids to spend time with their families instead of playing games.”
The Lizard Squad halted their DDoS attacks after reaching a deal with Kim Dotcom, founder of file-sharing service Mega. Dotcom stated via Twitter that he got Lizard Squad to agree not to attack Xbox Live or PlayStation Network ever again in exchange for a lifetime premium membership to Mega.
As of writing, both Xbox Live and PlayStation Network are back up and running. The former was functional again after only a day, while the latter took a total of three days to get completely back up again.
Source: CinemaBlend, Sky News
