If you were having problems signing into Xbox Live recently, there's a reason for that. One hacker group has taken credit for hacking into the service using a DDOS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack. This bombardment has left the service unusable for a number of players, though reports indicate that the servers are slowly regaining their strength.
The hacking 'team,' dubbed 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 has been involved in a number of these DDOS attacks in the games industry, and there's no telling what kind of damage they've caused outside of video games. Their long list of hacking forays covers everything from Playstation Network to Battle.net, Grand Theft Auto, League of Legends and more.
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 a pretty cool name. I mean, 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, working away on their computers.
Anyways, here's to hoping that full connectivity is restored to Xbox Live soon – people need their Netflix.
