A group of hackers is threatening to take down networks related to Xbox and Playstation consoles for a week over Christmas, copying a similar attack that took place around this time last year and stopped gamers around the world from accessing games.
The group, which calls itself Phantom Squad, says it has already launched attacks on various gaming networks including the Playstation Network (PSN), Xbox Live and Grand Theft Auto 5, and said it took down the website Reddit.
The International Business Times contacted Reddit to ask if it was offline due to a cyberattack, but there was no response. According to Reddit, the problem was due to one of its databases being overloaded, which could have been caused by a DDoS attack, the tool hackers say they will use against PSN and Xbox Live servers over Christmas.
Last year, a hacker group called Lizard Squad attacked Xbox Live and PSN on Christmas Day, rendering the services inaccessible worldwide. Three members of the group were arrested and charged with various hacking-related offenses. The attacks only stopped when Internet entrepreneur and famous gamer Kim Dotcom promised to give Lizard Squad 3,000 accounts from his encrypted upload service, Mega.
Kim Dotcom warned Sony and Microsoft this year that they must upgrade their systems to avoid such similar attacks, adding that he doubts he can stop them again.
Phantom Squad also claims to have attacked servers running GTA 5 and Black Ops 3, and to have also taken down Xbox Live and PSN for a short period of time. The hacking group released a video to prove the attacks, which included tweets claiming responsibility for the attack, as well as images from a website that tracks outages from a range of online services.
Phantom Squad says the group consists of 5 people and the reason they carry out the attacks is because there is no cybersecurity.
