Lizard Squad knocked PlayStation Network and Xbox Live offline on Christmas with a DDoS attack affecting 160 million subscribers. Kids couldn't play new games, and Xbox partially recovered by Friday while Sony struggled. The hackers appear motivated by attention rather than theft.
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It's game over for Xbox and PlayStation on Christmas. Hackers knocked the popular gaming systems offline. Fox 5's Dan Bowens joins us now live with the fallout from this latest hacking scandal. Good evening, Dan.
Good evening, Carrie. A hacking group called the Lizard Squad has claimed responsibility for this, and they even appeared to brag about it on their Twitter page earlier. Take a look. They wrote, "I wonder how many people tried to return their new consoles after Christmas thinking it was broken." Now, their motivation is still a bit murky. The outcome clearly damaging for thousands of kids on Christmas.
You want to see your children be able to enjoy what it is they're expecting.
I just kept seeing like an error message, so it was pretty frustrating. Whoever did this picked a bad day to do it.
Hackers aren't exactly known for nice gestures, but shutting down gaming networks on Christmas, that's low, says parent Pedro Morales.
My son, you know, was crushed, and, and seeing the look of disappointment on his face, you know, really got me upset.
To get the most out of One of the games many kids unwrapped this holiday, you need to connect to the internet to register and play against other players.
The online community just, uh, it just kept on going on and off for me.
Because for much of the last 24 hours, cybercriminals were blocking the digital pathways, shutting out some 160 million subscribers on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live.
It was really frustrating.
By midday Friday, an Xbox website said partial service had been restored, but Sony was still having trouble, particularly embarrassing given the recent hack of Sony Entertainment linked to the movie The Interview.
This is the second time in a row!
This time, a hacking group called Lizard Squad claimed responsibility. It doesn't appear the group stole any personal information, just blocked service. Hotspot Shield identity theft expert Robert Siciliano.
It looks like these particular hackers are definitely hacking for fame. That means that the personal information of the users is generally safe. However, the inconvenience that we all face, uh, can be, you know, significant at this point.
The Lizard Squad says the hack of Sony and Xbox is over. They say they've changed their focus now to the Tor network. The Tor network allows users to browse the web anonymously. It's unclear if that system is having any problems at this point. Steve Beckman.
