Posted in: Games, Movies, Video Games | Tagged: entertainment, games, microsoft, playstation, playstation 4, playstation network, sony, video games, xbox, Xbox Live, xbox one

Xbox Live And PlayStation Network Back Online As Hackers Give Explanation For Attack

The big gaming story this Christmas was the DDoS attacks that hit both Xbox Live and PSN on Christmas Day. The assault came from hacker group Lizard Squad across the holidays rendering a lot of new PlayStation 4s and Xbox Ones useless. This was partially resolved when MegaUpload creator Kim Dotcom stepped in and offered the group several premium lifetime subscriptions to his new privacy service Mega. There was some confusion as to whether the attack actually stopped as both online services were spotty, but it is tough to tell where Lizard Squad stop and Sony and Microsoft's recovery begins.

Well, that little debacle seems to be past us now as both the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live have resumed mostly normal service. Xbox returned to stability faster of the two online services, but today PlayStation Network has become stable too, supposedly taking longer to better protect from future attacks.

One member of Lizard Squad came forward in an interview with Sky News, calling himself 'Ryan' offering an explanation for the group's attack on the gaming services:

Also one of the big aspects here was raising awareness regarding the low state of computer security at these companies.

Because these companies make tens of millions every month from subscriber fees and that doesn't even include purchases made by their customers. They should have more than enough funding to be able to protect against these attacks.And if they can't protect against the attacks on their core business networks then I don't think they're really doing that much on their overall level of security.

And these customers are still giving these companies their credit card numbers and such.

He said he recognized that what he did was a bit "unethical" but also said without remorse:

I'd be rather worried if those people didn't have anything better to do than play games on their consoles on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

I mean I can't really be (inaudible) feel bad. I might have forced a couple of kids to spend their time with their families instead of playing games.

…he said as if only children get games consoles, they can't be communal activities and that everyone is with their family on Christmas.

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