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Lizard Squad: Xbox Live, PSN Attacks Were a 'Marketing Scheme' For DDoS Service
blottsie writes The devastating Christmas Day attacks against the gaming networks of Sony and Microsoft were a marketing scheme for a commercial cyberattack service, according to the hackers claiming responsibility for the attacks. Known as Lizard Squad, the hacker collective says it shut down the PlayStation Network (PSN) and Xbox Live network on Dec. 25 using a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, a common technique that overloads servers with data requests. The powerful attacks rendered the networks unusable for days, infuriating gamers around the world and causing yet-untold losses of revenue. Now, members of Lizard Squad say the group is selling the DDoS service they used against Sony and Microsoft to anyone willing to pay.
not like you can play any game on the first day anyway
everything is virtualized to the point where they support average players months after release and not the day of release and idiots not only pre-order the games, they change the store country to play it the second it goes live somewhere in the world.
a justice reward to these lil Asshats. I am quite pleased that Anonymous has already done their homework and spread all the information about these douchecanoes throughout the internet so their lives are wrecked for the foreseaable future. I'd hate to think that some mouthbreather CoD player go word that him and his mates are kicked off line by that kid down the street and enact vengeance for all of us.
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"anyone willing to pay" -- you mean like an FBI agent with a credit card?
Old age and treachery almost always overcome youth and skill.
Sounds like an awesome way to get caught and shutdown. Keep at it boys.
X
devastating
No, there are lots of things that have happened in the past week that qualify as devastating, but these were not on that list. A major annoyance? Sure. Devastating? Not so much. Just because some people who paid too much for a gaming system weren't able to use it the first day after they got it; and the companies who sold it to them had to wait a little longer to get credit card numbers to charge monthly fees for these people, doesn't make it devastating.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Dammit, get it right!
They were just exploring for unsecured systems in order to benevolently improve the Internet.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
Apart from being supremely annoying, does the legal system even have laws related to this? (I actually suspect that our fine congress critters don't have the first idea what a DDOS is, let alone understand the issues and why it should be illegal.)
It actually sounds like a problem in need of a solution. E.g. what is IETF doing to TCP/IP to make it easier to defend against DDoSs? Or easier to track the culprits? Because merely making it illegal in one, ten, or one hundred jurisdictions isn't going to make it go away.
I wonder how much target validation they do.
If I were sony I might pay someone to be their first customer. Target of course would be important backend infrastructure for a major retailer..... then hand them a list of DoD IPs to hit.
Oh you want me to pay you to poke sticks at sleeping animals? Here is $10 go poke that bear.
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
Why pay for something that can be found searching duckduckgo"they have to change that name lol" for free? And its not like theses scum are what i would call a trustworthy business or humans.
Jack of all trades,master of none
"Just send us your address, so we can mail you the check."
SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
GP knows what he's talking about - he was already stoned when he wrote that.
Either humanity has gotten way stupider, or this is a PsyOp to help get public backing for new and restrictive legislation?
If I'd said 10 years ago there would be hacker collectives bringing down corporate information services then selling the hacks and software for money I'd have said there's no way.... wait, I'd of probably said that sound reasonable. Things will get much worse. Does anyone have a suggestion about how organizations can prevent these attacks? Bruce Schneier, where are you?
where was this claim LAST YEAR when the same little shits did the same thing to several online games?
... it's a code name for FBI sting op.
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
The positive side is that hopefully it provides further incentives for companies like Microsoft to work harder to try to mitigate DDoS problems at the source.
Microsoft are in a unique position as their operating system is - it seems - in many cases the base platform for launching these attacks. It'd be great to see a concerted effort along with a company like Google to start actively trying to massively reduce the number of systems that are regularly involved in DDoS attacks.
It's Mechanical Turk. They ask people to logon to Xbox over and over for $.00001 a attempt. It's the Mechanical Turk, so they never pay, but that doesn't stop the dupes from signing up.
Moriarty: How hard do you find it? Having to say, "I don't know."?
Sherlock: I don't know.
Moriarty: Oh that's clever. That's very clever. Awfully clever. Speaking of clever, have you told your little friends yet?
Sherlock: Told them what?
Moriarty: Why I broke into all those places and never took anything.
Sherlock: No.
Moriarty: But you understand.
Sherlock: Obviously.
Moriarty: Off you go then.
Sherlock: You want me to tell you what you already know.
Moriarty: No, I want you to prove that you know it.
Sherlock: You didn't take anything because you don't need to.
Moriarty: Good.
Sherlock: You'll never need to take anything ever again.
Moriarty: Very good. Because...
Sherlock: Because nothing—nothing in the Bank of England, the Tower of London or Pentonville Prison could possibly match the value of the key that could get you in to all three.
Moriarty: I can open any door anywhere with a few tiny lines of computer code. No such thing as a private bank account now, they're all mine. No such thing as secrecy. I own secrecy. Nuclear codes. I could blow up NATO in alphabetical order. In a world of locked rooms, the man with the key is king, and honey, you should see me in a crown.
Sherlock: You were advertising all the way through the trial. You were showing the world what you can do.
Moriarty: And you were helping. Big client list. Rogue governments. Intelligence communities. Terror cells. They all want me. Suddenly, I'm Mr. Sex.
Sherlock: You could break any bank. What do you care about the highest bidder?
Moriarty: I don't. I just like to watch them all competing. "Daddy loves me the best!". Aren't ordinary people adorable? Well you know. You've got John. I should get myself a live-in one.
Correction: an FBI agent with some Bitcoins.
... all the compromised boxes to set up this DDoS network run MS software, and that is licensed, so you CANNOT sell what you don't own when you own it, even if you didn't own it when you owned it.
Or from Kim?
Agreed that "gamers" waste their lives on pursuits that gain them zero + take their money ontop of it.
Never suggest it myself, but sounds like some NET-vigilantes might bust one/two/three of the DDOSers and break their fingers and knee-caps. Kinda tuff to be a byte-perp when ya can't bend-a-knee or type! Ever. The message would get thru fast ... eh hoser?
I've noticed that in the leadup to these attacks somebody going by Lizardpatrol1 had just been running around vandalizing Wikipedia. I think they're just cashing in on the instability of simultaneous new consoles being attached to sell the vapor product.
For those who seek perfection there can be no rest on this side of the grave.
If their BBC interview is any indication, provide these guys/gals with your credentials and they'll gladly pass it along to the next set of bandits (GoP)... except, since this is a new service, they'll also take your money AND they'll gladly take down your organization.
It's merely a sucker's bet.
It's too bad they used XBOX LIVE and PSN as the target. So people who spent their own money on something that required internet access were told "It's only a game, relax, go outside". If they really wanted to impact "real people", they'd have attacked Netflix. There's a lot of blaming the victim in this thing. You paid too much for your toy! That's what you get for trying to play games!! It's your fault for buying something that requires internet access! Bottom line is people paid for something. The company was otherwise able to provide the service. A third party stepped in and blocked that.
The hackers would cash in, order their bots to do the job they were hired to do and go on with their lives. DDoSes are not done from the attacker's computer; he controls many machines, usually without the owner's knowledge. If caught, Sony would be in a heap of trouble explaining why they hired hackers to attack military targets.
> The hackers would cash in, order their bots to do the job they were hired to do and go on with their lives.
and then they would likely find their botnet being rapidly dismantled, and identified as a threat since they obviously can't keep their activities in the civilian world. Not too many really want state security apparatus, who have little sense of humor and no qualms about working overtime, actually looking to identify them.
> If caught, Sony would be in a heap of trouble explaining why they hired hackers to attack military targets.
If caught they would also likely re-attract the ire of the service owners too. However, thats why I said pay someone else to hire them, their part in the fiasco could be quite small I would assume they should be in a good position to keep their own part hidden.
Shit, pay someone in China to do it and I doubt anyone will look past the persons country of origin since "chineese hacker" is good enough for all they care a press release.
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
I can appreciate the skill behind a clever, intelligent hack, but DDOS is just lame squared.
For ruining Christmas for so many kids, I hope those skript kiddie fuckers get caught and have their whole lives ruined.
... the free market!
Hail Eris
Way up in the mountains in a small little town,
The Main Street was being decorated all up and down.
People stood in long lines, sometimes waiting hours or more,
Because Christmas needs to be bought in a store.
But out in the forest, not too far away...
1. The IPs they used for the DDoS are almost certainly known now.
2. There are several groups (Sony, FBI, probably Microsoft, some infosec companies) who want to see the botnet dismantled.
3. As each host is remediated or blocked (ISP walled garden), said botnet shrinks.
Unless these guys have some zero-days and malware kits up their sleeves, their DDoS capabilities will not be around for long.
It's like a weapon manufacturer makes bombs and they demonstrate their products by bombing a small country.
NICE!
Next in marketing plan: hire a SEO company to optimize web page.
If Microsoft wants to hire some mercenaries to deal with these dicks in a permanent fashion, I won't complain. The fact that Sony doesn't have actual ninjas on staff is a constant source of disappointment, but easily fixed.
Simple... Get rid of psn/Xbox live sign in. Or, at least allow users to play the games if said services are unavailable.
No need for expensive anti-ddos or whatever.
Sony/MS take your money and want control but can't maintain control in these situations.
Without these single points of failure, this issue would not have happened