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PlayStation (Games) Security XBox (Games) Games IT

Xbox Live and PlayStation Networks Downed By Apparent Attack 160

mrspoonsi writes Both Xbox Live and PlayStation Network [were] down this morning, apparently due to a denial-of-service attack. The notorious hacking group Lizard Squad — which already carried out earlier attacks on Microsoft and Sony — has claimed responsibility on Twitter for these latest outages. While the group's role in all of this remains unconfirmed, it's worth noting that the group threatened last week to take down Xbox Live and PSN, according to Business Insider. And again, Lizard Squad has already proven it can successfully pull off such attacks, not to mention other malicious pranks.

Whatever the cause, the timing is obviously terrible: Plenty of people surely received one of the two consoles as Christmas presents today, while many more gamers would have happily spent the afternoon in front of the TV. In the meantime, both Sony and Microsoft have acknowledged the problem, with Sony issuing a tweet and Microsoft posting a message on its support website: "We're working to address this as quickly as we possibly can," reads its status website. "Thanks for your patience, Xbox members." In an email, a Microsoft spokesperson declined to comment further or say when the company expects to restore service. We've also asked Sony to comment and will update this post if and when it does.
The Xbox Live status page says service remains "limited," and the Playstation Network is listed as offline.
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Xbox Live and PlayStation Networks Downed By Apparent Attack

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  • by burni2 ( 1643061 ) on Thursday December 25, 2014 @04:25PM (#48673247)

    1.) North Korea (has cyber warfare caps)
    2.) "new" Russia (has cyber warfare caps)
    3.) The United States (has cyber warfare caps)
    4.) The U.K. (has cyber warfare caps + someone chatted with offensive language insulting Prince Charles about buying female hygene products)
    5.) just some non state hacking group (has cyber warfare caps)
    6.) foreign -hacking- legion (everyone can by cyber warfare caps)

    I think I will be right with at least one or two of the guesses!!

    • .. because (Obama Voice On) "It's in the nations primary interest that the average hard working american can relax from his hard work."

      (opium for the masses, xbox for americans)

      • by Forbman ( 794277 )

        seriously? only for a few. opium for the masses in the US = NFL on Sundays, Budweiser beer and throwing pennies at homeless people. (UK is probably Premier League Soccer, Rugby Union, shin kicking, and trying to follow up on what Kate Middleton is wearing today).

  • Or "DDoS" caused by everyone trying to get their new Christmas toys on line at the same time, and Sony damage control claiming an attack?

  • by magusxxx ( 751600 ) <`moc.oohay' `ta' `0002_xxxsugam'> on Thursday December 25, 2014 @05:24PM (#48673419)
    The thing is, the game servers are just fine. If we didn't have to go through the Playstation Network we'd be playing the games right now. In fact, some of us were playing this morning after the attack occurred. But since we were already logged in we could keep playing. After the game servers went down for daily maintenance, and we then tried to log back in, did we realize there was a problem. This then brings up the big question: Why do Playstation users have to first get recognized by the PSN? It has been asked many times over the years with no good answer. When something like this occurs, why not just let us bypass the PSN and play the games. Yes, we won't be able to add money to our accounts, redeem codes, or buy updates. But so what. We'd still be able to play.
    • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 25, 2014 @05:47PM (#48673485)

      You seem to not understand what you own. These devices were not DESIGNED for playing games.

      They were built to take money. And they do that job very well.
      And if they can't take money there's no point in the system working at all.

      • I do understand what I own. A game system where I pay a monthly fee to play an online video game. PSN is merely a portal to get to the game. The game server is independent. It's exactly the same problem people have with always-on games. Except for one thing...If Always-on games can't reach the game server, they can't be verified as users and can't play. If the PSN is down, the game servers can still verify we are players. The only thing we can't do is real-world currency transactions. But we could still do
        • BTW...forgot one thing... In the past, the PSN Marketplace has gone down for voluntary maintenance. And guess what, we've still been able to play the game. There's no reason for users to jump through a hoop that isn't always there.
        • No. Why? because there, just like in the 1860s, is a sucker born every minute. Then it was circus curiosities for a nickle. Today its $20 for Xbox live.
      • And if they can't take money there's no point in the system working at all.

        And if people leave your system because they can not play then it is not good either. Nice rant against making money.

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion
        • Free only on Sony machines that aren't the PS4. PS4 requires* PS+ for multiplayer.

          requires* = not-required for asynchronous multiplayer (a la a chess game with a send-turn feature), F2P titles, and MMO's.

          For example, you can play DCUO or War Thunder online without PS+

    • by kbdd ( 823155 )
      " Yes, we won't be able to add money to our accounts, redeem codes, or buy updates. But so what. We'd still be able to play."

      That's the problem. They don't really care if you play. The game is only a pretext for you to spend more money. If you have no way to spend money, the game does not matter to them.

      • That's the problem. They don't really care if you play. The game is only a pretext for you to spend more money. If you have no way to spend money, the game does not matter to them.

        And farmers don't really care if we eat. The food is just a pretext to get me to spend money. (I know the analogy can be destroyed fairly quickly but honestly what for-profit company doesn't make their product to get money?)

  • These "hackers" just made Christmas a lot less Merry for many children that just got some nice new Christmas presents.

    They've already made their point that they can bring down the gaming networks of two evil empires, they should just stop DOS attack and let the kids (and the not-so young gamers) have their fun on Christmas.
    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Scryer ( 60692 )

      Less merry for adults, too. We got an Xbox One for the grandkids, and I tried to help my son get it sorted for a couple of hours. The situation was magnified by inappropriate error messages from Microsoft pointing fingers at our cables, our network, our ISP's network, and, in short, everything except their own darned servers! A single approximately correct error diagnosis from them (like "Our servers may be knackered. Check back later.") would have redirected our efforts more appropriately.

      When I finall

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by PopeRatzo ( 965947 )

        Keep board games handy. Everyone can play and interact like a real family and your kids won't end up as pedos on 8chan.

      • by aliquis ( 678370 )

        Yeah, it's just nasty.

        But games can be played offline too. But maybe not when it's new and one want to sign up and such?

        Gift day is the 25th in the US?

        As for board-games I thought about that when I was over at a friend who have an Xbox One and we were supposed to play some and it wouldn't connect for us either.

        He don't play them but I do and I had just got Dungeon Lords Anniversary Edition from backing it on Kickstarter and there's little chance that "wouldn't run" if you had anyone to play with.

        Then again

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by PopeRatzo ( 965947 )

      These "hackers" just made Christmas a lot less Merry for many children that just got some nice new Christmas presents.

      Screw 'em. Take a day off gaming. If they can't find something else fun to do besides play on their XboxOne or PS4 for one single Christmas Day, then you've been a shitty parent. Next thing you know they're gonna start talking about ethics in game journalism and SJWs and then you have to drown them.

      Better they learn now that not all gratification is instant, and an online first-person sho

      • by Scryer ( 60692 )

        That sounds charming, but there was no clue during the setup of the new Xbox One that the problem was due to their network failure. The error messages presented to us as we were trying to figure out the setup were that our cables, local network and ISP DNS server were not working. There was no suggestion offered by the box that a server outage was a possibility. Yes, we did go on to other things, but it took us two hours to decide it was likely the problem was not in fact ours.

        Your smug superiority is mis

    • by aliquis ( 678370 )

      I tried to come up with "why?" too.

      Is it simply because they want to extort Sony and Microsoft for money?

      I assume it's not revenge for TPB raid or "PC master race! Console peasants!"

  • ... but I'm pretty sure that mindless packet floods still aren't 'hacking'.
  • by Vegan Cyclist ( 1650427 ) on Thursday December 25, 2014 @06:51PM (#48673659) Homepage
    Maybe it was Nintendo? ^.^
  • In my opinion, the issue at hand is not whether this is a first-world problem or not; it's not the level of disruption. It's the fact that an organization, no matter the origin, both had the ability and will to adversely affect the normality of so many people's lives. This act of ability and resolve indicates both a lack of corporate and governmental defense against such attacks and a distinct lack of trepidation of reprisal. The latter is more disturbing than the former. The more often these various org
    • Another issue is why the mentioned "normality of so many people's lives" are so closely tied to services of two corporations.

  • The Panther Moderns strike again.
  • If you were given an Xbone for xmas you will not be playing anything today. It will take at LEAST 6 hours to update the box, then any game you buy will have a 20-40gb "patch" that will need to download.

    It's the biggest SUCK there is about the Xbox One.

    • I haven't used the PS4 but this was a problem for the PS3 as well (in addition to the fact that their update server seemed to run at dial up speeds)

  • Decided to see if my Fallout New Vegas DLC I'd purchased a few years ago was bugfixed. It was not. The goal is 60 fps? Try 1 frame per minute, or less. grrr

    / Seems if your save file is >10 meg you lose
    // forgive me for enjoying the game, completing all side quests and the game before the DLC came out
    /// Game is on craigslist, I'll never even start 2 of the 4 DLC I bought
    //// Be a long time before Bethesda gets any money from me for anything
    ///// I'm on a PS3 YMMV
  • Curiously, Kim Dotcom saved the day: https://twitter.com/LizardMafi... [twitter.com] https://twitter.com/KimDotcom [twitter.com]

    • Kind of makes you think he was behind the attacks to begin with, huh? Otherwise, why negotiate with terrorists?

He who has but four and spends five has no need for a wallet.

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