A “Thank you” to Lizard Squad from all the mums and dads, uncles and aunties, brothers and sisters having to try and entice disappointed youngsters of all colour, creed and race into watching Alec Guinness in The Ladykillers since they were not able to show you their Christmas Destiny on PlayStation. Yeah, thanks for the lulz.
Not the only ones desperate for some attention, they almost listened to Kim Dotcom who saw an Xmas opportunity too:
“One such afflicted user was Kim Dotcom, founder of MegaUpload and not an uncontroversial figure himself. And here’s where the story takes a strange turn. Dotcom reached out to Lizard Squad directly, promising them 3,000 Lifetime accounts on his encrypted upload service, Mega.”
As Lizard Squad account says they’re not attacking PSN but it is still down, it may have been that Big Dot was played, or it may be he kept offering copies of that record of his too (Pick of the Week 30th Jan.). As those vouchers he promised are likely terminated now I guess anarchy and opportunity are indeed often a bad romance. I guess it’s musical break time.
Updated 16th January 2015
UK police arrest man connected to Lizard Squad PlayStation and Xbox attacks (engadget.com).
“UK authorities have today claimed that they’ve tracked down at least one member who was involved in the attacks. Officers from the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU) Cyber Crime Unit say that they have arrested an 18-year-old man in connection with a ‘the denial of service attack of Sony Playstation and Xbox systems in 2014 and swatting offences.’”
“Swatting offenses” involves calling in false reports to draw armed response teams (i.e. SWAT) to a target’s house. This have been done to several celebs and is a tit-for-tat tactic for rival hacker groups.
Updated 2nd January 2015
“Thames Valley Police yesterday released a statement saying that the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (Serocu) had arrested a 22-year-old man on 30 December in connection with fraud and Computer Misuse Act offences. [A] statement said: ‘The arrest… is in connection with an ongoing investigation in to cyber fraud offences which took place between 2013 and August 2014 during which victims reported funds being stolen from their PayPal accounts.’”
Suggesting perhaps that it wasn’t “just for Lolz” and likely accomplished by a pale chap watching an episode of Family Guy and intimidating Iggy Azalea into recording another sex tape for “insulting Ferguson protesters and black culture” (MB 24th Dec.)
Updated 2nd January 2015
“Sony is to offer discounts on games and extend memberships to its online service to make up for it going offline over Christmas.”
I bet they are not offering a free lifetime Mega membership though. :(
Updated 29th December 2014
“Hacking groups have called a ceasefire after attacks on Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network were said to have gone too far and damaged the image of hackers.”
Perhaps damaging because without any ideology involved here as it was when they were hacking n’ crackin’ in retaliation for PayPal’s spurning of Wikileaks it seems seems aimless…
“…the group disavowed their connection with the many Twitter accounts, including one called Crucifix, who had increased their profile on Twitter by claiming to be members of Lizard Squad and saying that they would cease the attacks if they gained followers.”
Or perhaps some wearing the black hat were just getting too much attention on Twitter that some not had to swtich to their white hat to stick their USB oar in to get a follower or two and perhaps some clicks on a donate button.
“The group confirmed that they had stopped the attacks after making the deal. While service has not yet fully resumed on PlayStation Network, that is a consequence of so many people attempting to get back online and the networks trying to stop any similar attacks from happening in future”
So it seems Big Dot may not have been played in his attempt to save Christmas and that they did indeed try and call it off and upload the leaked preview copies of Fifty Shades of Grey kept under their black of white hats to their gratis Mega accounts instead. It was obviously all PlayStation’s fault for not being able to chmod something and too many damage-dealing Warlocks and not enough Titan tanks in the queue to play Destiny.
Updated 31st December 2014
For the LOLz or marketing stunt? Lizard Squad’s takedown-for-hire service quickly disappears (engadget.com).
“Lizard Squad, the group that claimed responsibility for both attacks turned around and launched Lizard Stresser, a service that let anyone fire off a DDoS broadside, so long as they pay a fee. The joke may be on them however, since the tool is already down (the group claims this is so it can switch servers), and while the website was live it even became a target for exploits.”
Bitcoin I can understand, but HTF PayPal??? I know PayPal is more accepting of adult services/content nowadays but DDOS services? Surely the first thing a rival hacker group is gonna do is report them to PayPal.
Updated 27th December 2014
“The hackers posted a document online containing username and password combinations. They also added credit card numbers as well as expiry dates.”
Which perhaps makes sense of why they were asking Big Dot if they could upload text files with those vouchers he promised.
“Children were reduced to tears during the ‘worst Christmas ever’, parents fumed about paying hundreds of pounds for games consoles that could not be used.”
Recent/related stories
- Iggy Azalea threatened with leak of alleged sex tape stills by Anonymous for (supposedly) “insulting Ferguson protesters and black culture” (Message Board 24th December)
- Kim Dotcom will bring his Internet Party to the US in 2015 (Pick of the Week 19th December)
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