Hackers have claimed responsibility for a cyber-attack on Sony’s PlayStation and Microsoft’s Xbox game consoles.The attack hit gamers on Christmas Day, and some users continued to report problems today.
The attack was claimed by a group called Lizard Squad, while another group, calling itself Finest Squad, said it was trying to get the games back online.
“I have the nation on strings,” Lizard Squad wrote on its Twitter site. The group flooded Xbox and PlayStation servers with sustained Denial of Service requests.
“Xbox and PSN have been restored. Give it about 30min to an hour for full service”, Finest Squad responded.
But frustrated users took to Twitter to vent their disappointment and anger at Lizard Squad, which also claimed responsibility for attacks on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live earlier this month.
“Is Microsoft going to reimburse us for the live time that we’re missing out on that most of us paid for .. #xboxlivedown #Microsoft,” wrote one user.
“PSN has been down for the past 48 Hours, my kids can’t enjoy their Christmas present.#ChristmasRuined,” wrote another.
Neither Sony nor Microsoft have confirmed the attack.
Xbox Live is back up while Sony Corp’s PlayStation Network remains offline.
“We’re aware that some users are having issues logging into PSN – engineers are investigating,” PlayStation said via its Twitter account.
A Microsoft website that keeps track of the status of Xbox services listed Xbox Live’s “core services” as up and running.
The attack meant gamers were unable to play online and also impacted online components of hugely popular games such as Call of Duty, Madden, FIFA and The Sims 4.
Three Xbox platforms were affected by the service problem: Xbox One, Xbox 360 and Xbox on other devices, Microsoft’s status website said.
Lizard Squad had issued a threat at the start of December and describes itself as the “Grinch of Christmas”.
It is not clear what Lizard Squad wants or who they are, but some reports suggest the hacking group could be Russian, though this has not been proven.
A link on their Twitter site was originally a Russian-based domain.
The latest trouble for Sony comes after hackers calling themselves the Guardians of Peace broke into the company’s internal systems and stole large amounts of data last month.
The hack was reported to be in retaliation for the planned release of The Interview, a film about a fictional plot to kill North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.
The Sony leak resulted in the release of details about some 40,000 employees, full versions of movies yet to be screened, and highly embarrassing private email exchanges.
