Two of the biggest international gaming networks, Microsoft’s XBox Live and Sony’s Playstation Network, were still intermittent in terms of log-in connectivity after what was believed to be a massive hacking attempt on the two networks over the past week.
Gamers and users of two of the popular gaming devices were left with devices that were essentially what are known as “bricks” in technical parlance, referring to electronic devices that have no functionality when not charged or connected to a network.
The hacking attempt, believed to have started on Wednesday night, continued well into Thursday and wee parts of Friday. It is believed that the hacking group “Lizard Squad”, the same one behind the Sony Pictures hacking over its “The Interview” movie, was behind this one as well, since they tweeted out messages claiming ownership behind the XBox and Playstation network attacks.
The group is believed to have used a denial of service attack, where they used a massive number of computers to throttle network traffic on XBox and Playstation gaming servers, thus preventing legitimate users from logging into the network.
The attacks come barely weeks after the Lizard Squad hacked into Sony Pictures, releasing a large number of e-mails from top executives that made Sony look in a bad light. The hacking group also appears to have targeted the gaming networks right around Christmas time, when usage of the gaming systems was bound to have peaked during the vacations.
