The Playstation Network was taken down for most of the day on Sunday by hackers seeking restitution for theUS bombing of ISIS and ISIL in Iraq. Users of the Playstation 3 and PS4 consoles were unable to access their internet services due to the attack, which culminated with a bomb threat on Sony Online Entertainment President John Smedley’s San Francisco bound flight.
Claiming credit for the attack is a group named Lizard Squad, who used a dedicated denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, basically overwhelming the Playstation site with thousands and thousands of remotely hacked computers trying to access the network, drowning out any actual user’s ability to access their Playstation services. Why? Their tweets today explain it all:
Kuffar don’t get to play videogames until bombing of the ISIL stops. #ISIL #PSN #ISIS
— Lizard Squad (@LizardSquad) August 24, 2014
Sony’s Australian unit later put out a link to a statement from the company on the attack on the network:
“Like other major networks around the world, the PlayStation Network and Sony Entertainment Network have been impacted by an attempt to overwhelm our network with artificially high traffic. Although this has impacted your ability to access our network and enjoy our services, no personal information has been accessed. We will continue to work towards fixing this issue and hope to have our services up and running as soon as possible. We regret any inconvenience this may have caused.”
The Lizard Squad then used Twitter to threaten Sony Online Entertainment President John Smedley, continuing their war on American gamers:
.@AmericanAir We have been receiving reports that @j_smedley‘s plane #362 from DFW to SAN has explosives on-board, please look into this. — Lizard Squad (@LizardSquad) August 24, 2014
Due to the tweet, the American Airlines Flight that took off from Dallas was immediately diverted to Phoenix, where all the passengers were asked to disembark while TSA and airport security searched the luggage for explosives. After the incident, a frustrated Smedley tweeted the following:
Yes. My plane was diverted. Not going to discuss more than that. Justice will find these guys.
— John Smedley (@j_smedley) August 24, 2014
While many can’t help but recall Playstation Network security issues back in 2011 that resulted in thousands of user’s private information being stolen, this time it really does seem like this was something out of Sony’s hands. No personal information was hacked, the attack was done entirely to frustrate and annoy gamers who wanted to enjoy the PSN services on Sunday. It was a calculated assault designed to get the attention of a part of the American populace who are most likely unaffected by the actions in the Middle East, a menacing strike intended to warn everyday Americans that ISIS and ISIL can hurt them as well, even with something as innocuous as their recreational activities.
Source: Deadline