Lizard Squad Xbox Live DDoS Attack

Like millions of other Xbox gamers, you may have had trouble logging onto Xbox Live during Christmas. That’s because both Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network were victimized by DDoS attacks that took them offline, but authorities may be closing in on the parties responsible.

YLE reported last week that a supposed member of Lizard Squad, the group claiming responsibility for the attacks, had been apprehended by Finnish authorities. A 17-year old identified only as “Ryan” was brought in for questioning, but Chief Inspector Tero Muurman of Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation has since stated that Ryan was not detained, only questioned about his possible involvement.

During his questioning, Ryan denied direct involvement in the attack, claiming to only be a spokesperson for Lizard Squad. He played the part during an interview with Sky News in which he said the actual team of attackers consisted of only one or two individuals.

Although Ryan said the group may contain members younger than the age of 20, one of them may be 22-year old Vinnie Omari, who The Daily Dot reports was arrested by UK authorities on December 29 in connection to the DDoS attacks. Omari was later released on bail, with no formal charges having yet been filed. Omari told the Dot that a forensics team was pouring over his “Xbox one, phones, laptops, computer USBs, etc.”

As for the motivation behind the attacks, Ryan told Sky News that the group viewed the endeavor as a “sort of a game” conducted for their own amusement and to raise awareness about the state of Microsoft and Sony’s cyber protection. Ryan believes that the two companies “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.”

Ryan went on to state that he lacked empathy for those gamers who were made to “to spend their time with their families instead of playing games” on Christmas. That being said, he did admit that he understood Lizard Squad’s tactics were unethical.

Sources: The Daily Dot, Sky News and YLE via Polygon

Image Source: Flickr