There’s always someone looking to spoil the party, and Christmas Day could prove to be miserable indeed for PlayStation gamers who are hoping to dive onto the PlayStation Network (PSN) with some of their favourite games over the holidays.
Hacking group Phantom Squad have recently taken to Twitter to make a threat to both Microsoft and Sony, claiming that they’ll attempt to disable both online services over the Christmas period.
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"We are going to shut down Xbox Live and PSN this year on Christmas," tweeted Phantom Squad. "And we are going to keep them down for one week straight. #DramaAlert."
The Phantom Squad Twitter account has now been removed, but not before the group claimed that they took down the Xbox Live servers last week. They claim that their actions are to force both Microsoft and Sony to improve network security.
"Xbox Live and PSN have millions upon millions of dollars… but do they use that money for better security?" tweeted @PhantomSquad. "PSN and Xbox Live don’t use that money to improve their security… So until they open their eyes Xbox Live and PSN will remain vulnerable."
Currently, there’s no guarantee that the threats on PSN and Xbox Live will be carried out, but a member of Lizard Squad, who were behind last year’s infamous Christmas PSN outage, believe that they “have the resources” and could carry out the attack if they wish.
Lizard Squad hit the headlines in August 2014 when it conducted a DDoS attack on the PSN. The attack was preceded earlier in the year with threats, reportedly from the same group, being made to John Smedley, the former Sony Online Entertainment president, which resulted in his flight being diverted based on a bomb threat. In December 2014, Lizard Squad claimed responsibility for one of the worst and most sustained outages in PlayStation’s history after the PSN suffered a DDoS attack on Christmas Day affecting thousands of gamers worldwide.