Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are joining forces to work out ways to tackle the Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks that have disrupted online services over the past year.
Speaking with Game Informer, head of Microsoft’s Xbox division, Phil Spencer, says that he’s been talking with Sony and Nintendo to learn from the experiences and seeks to put customer’s minds at rest.
Referring specifically to the PlayStation Network downtime over the Christmas period, Spencer says: "I don’t think it’s great when PSN goes down. It doesn’t help me. All it does is put the fear and distrust from any gamer that’s out there, so I look at all of us together as this is our collective opportunity to share what we can about what we’re learning and how things are growing. Those conversations happen, which I think is great."
The PlayStation Network and Xbox Live suffered significant downtime over the Holidays, including Christmas Day. Black hat hacking group, Lizard Squad, claims they were behind the attacks and subsequently told Sky News that they hoped to raise awareness of the poor security of these online services.
Earlier this year, multiple arrests were made over the DDoS attacks, including that of a U.K. man from Southport by the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU) and FBI. Investigations are still continuing.
Is there anything they can actually do to prevent DDoS attacks?