If you were having problems signing into Xbox Live as of late, there's a very good reason for that.
A hacker group has taken credit for disrupting the service using a DDOS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack, according to a report at Polygon. This barrage has left the service unusable for many users, though reports indicated that the servers are slowly regaining their strength.
The hacking "team," known only as "Lizard Squad," had this to say on Twitter:
That's a small dose of what's to come on Christmas. #LizardSquad
— Lizard Squad (@LizardPatrol) December 2, 2014
Lizard Squad has been involved in a number of these DDOS attacks in the video game industry, and there's no knowing what kind of havoc they have wreaked outside of the industry. Their long list of hacking forays covers everything from PlayStation Network to Battle.net, "Grand Theft Auto," "League of Legends" and others.
Keep in mind that none of your information is at risk through a DDOS attack. No actual data is stolen from the servers of whoever is suffering the penetration. These acts damage the services through simply cutting off the usability of the programs of each service.
While I really feel for those affected, you have to admit "Lizard Squad" is an awesome name. If I ran a hacking team, I'm not sure I could come up with something better than that. Just think about a bunch of lizards sitting in a basement somewhere, cigarette in mouth, toiling away on their computers. Pretty amusing, no?
Anyway, here's to hoping that full connectivity is restored to Xbox Live soon...people need their Netflix.
