Lizard Squad Bomb Threat Diverts Sony Exec's Plane To Phoenix

As if cutting off from their games millions of users wasn't enough for the day, Forbes reports that [the] hacker collective (or individual) known as the “Lizard Squad” succeeded in taking offline many gaming services including Blizzard’s Battle.net and Sony PSN. But things took a turn from irritating DDoS attacks to another level of harassment earlier this afternoon when the group took to Twitter to announce publicly that it a believed the flight carrying Sony Online Entertainment President John Smedley had explosives on board. The flight had been bound from Dallas to San Diego, but in response to the bomb threat, the plane was diverted to Phoenix.

Comments

Aaaand there goes the lizard squad

[Shadow of Eternity]

Pissing off game companies is one thing. Getting the DHS involved is another entirely. They've just brought a level of hell down on themselves they are woefully unprepared to deal with.

Re:Aaaand there goes the lizard squad

[Anonymous Coward]

Outlandish Claim? Check
Zero Evidence? Check.
Impossible to refute? Check.

Yes, sir, we have a typical conspiracy theory.

Re: Aaaand there goes the lizard squad

[Anonymous Coward]

Good point, now that one conspiracy theory has been proven correct we can safely toss all critical thinking out the window and accept every other half-wit conspiracy that appears on the internet.

Re:Aaaand there goes the lizard squad

[Dutch Gun]

Oh, I'd wager they're almost certainly in the US, or at least another relatively wealthy country with an extradition treaty. They're also probably a bunch of teenage males from moderately well-off families, and who have far more free time and impotent angst than good sense. Anyone living in an area with lots of real-world problems as opposed to first-world problems wouldn't bother targeting videogame companies or Sony executives.

Twit....ter

[Himmy32]

Looking at Lizard Squad's twitter feed they have the maturity level of about a screaming toddler. The obvious lack of thinking is painful. They see these things as just pranks and a way to make a political statement. But bomb threats and DDoS attacks are a good way to waste your prime years in prison.

Re:What's the point of a hack like this?

[xmousex]

I guess anyone clever enough to do something intelligent or useful with these attacks would also be smart enough not to bother.

Way to taunt the Juggernaut

[luis_a_espinal]

Pissing off game companies is one thing. Getting the DHS involved is another entirely. They've just brought a level of hell down on themselves they are woefully unprepared to deal with.

My thoughts exactly. These kids better find a cave or a hole on the ground somewhere near the Khyber Pass or Timbuktu. Making bomb threats/pranks? There is a whole lot of angry coming right at them right now, the likes you can only escape by being a government entity, not some stupid script kiddie.

Re:Misleading headline

[Anonymous Coward]

yeah, the same way the maffia would tell you: "it's a nice little shop you have there, I heard something bad could happen to it, like a fire, or a bomb. Want me to check on you once in a while ? you know just to be sure you're safe and all ?"

it's not like they would ever threaten anyone. Just relaying some hearsay and proposing some help.

Re:Misleading headline

[gnasher719]

They said they've been receiving reports about a bomb on the plane, not that they put one there. They didn't make a bomb threat; they relayed one.

They better have proof that they received a bomb threat then.