Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

UK Suspect Arrested In Connection With PSN/XBL 'Lizard Squad' Attacks

Posted by timothy on from the just-a-bit-of-fun dept.

Dave Knott writes UK Police have arrested an 18-year-old man over involvement in the cyber-attacks on Sony's PlayStation Network and Microsoft's Xbox Live gaming services over Christmas, for which the Lizard Squad hacking group claimed responsibility. The man was arrested Friday in Southport, England, on suspicion of computer hacking, threats to kill and swatting. Computers and other electronic devices were seized during the arrest by officers from two UK cybercrime units working in conjunction with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. A spokesman said that police were still in the early stages of an investigation working closely with the FBI to identify further people involved in the attacks.

32 of 55 comments (clear)

  1. SWATting... Swatting? Who knows... by mythosaz · · Score: 1

    HA!

    Oh man, you guys really got me with this swatting at my house.

    Wait, what?

  2. good by bloodhawk · · Score: 1

    hopefully if he is one of the guilty parties he gets a nice long stay for many years in a very small cell.

    1. Re:good by mythosaz · · Score: 3, Insightful

      While he certainly screwed up my after-Christmas plans, I'm not quite ready to have him test new lethal injection drugs in Florida yet...

      An 18-year old non-violent offender should get an option to demonstrate the three R's of the criminal defense system. Remorse, recant, restitution.

      He needs a felony charge (that matches his crimes) that, upon successful completion of jail/probation/community-service can be commuted to a misdemeanor.

    2. Re:good by bloodhawk · · Score: 4, Insightful

      calling emergency services with fake call outs puts peoples lives at risk. The XBL and PSN part was just a mean spirited low scumbag act, the rest is what he should be in Jail for.

    3. Re:good by gnasher719 · · Score: 2

      An 18-year old non-violent offender should get an option to demonstrate the three R's of the criminal defense system. Remorse, recant, restitution.

      It seems that he made calls to the US police to get SWAT teams to someone's house. That is most definitely not "non-violent". It's something that can easily get someone killed, and that is very likely to inflict violence on someone, and that violence or killing is the desired effect.

    4. Re:good by _xeno_ · · Score: 1

      And did he actually carry out those threats or is the traditional police tactic of "let's charge with literally everything we can and see what sticks?"

      Because nothing in the article elaborates on these so called death threats and swatting claims. It's almost entirely about the LizardSquad DDOS, that involved neither of those.

      --
      You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
    5. Re:good by circletimessquare · · Score: 1

      ignoring the death threats and fake SWAT calls... what gives the douchebag the right to deny a little holiday joy to thousands of kids?

      why do you think that's no big deal?

      you honestly believe lulz by a handful of asocial shitbags is somehow equivalent to thousands of kids enjoying their presents?

      --
      intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    6. Re:good by _xeno_ · · Score: 1

      You do realize there is a massive realm of potential punishment between "nothing" and "years in a small cell," right?

      Wait, I recognize your user name, which means you almost certainly do not.

      --
      You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
    7. Re:good by circletimessquare · · Score: 1

      so tell us, what is the appropriate punishment, in your mind

      then add in the death threats and SWATting

      and then tell us again what exactly you are fucking complaining about

      --
      intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    8. Re:good by PopeRatzo · · Score: 3, Informative

      Uh, that seems kind of harsh for someone who's crime is preventing people from playing with their new toys on Christmas day.

      Swatting is attempted murder.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    9. Re:good by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      so tell us, what is the appropriate punishment...

      A SWAT team should come by and take away his Gameboy, and shoot his vicious hamster just for good measure.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    10. Re:good by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      He? He who?? Who the hell was arrested???

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    11. Re:good by circletimessquare · · Score: 1

      likewise

      http://yro.slashdot.org/commen...

      --
      intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    12. Re:good by bloodhawk · · Score: 2

      So you can't even bother to read the full summary let alone the article? The arrest included charges for Swatting and threats to kill.

    13. Re:good by bloodhawk · · Score: 1

      Personally I don't believe their are a huge realm of possible punishments once you intentionally risk the lives of others. That is not a minor offense, If he is actually guilty he needs to be charged with attempted murder and receive the appropriate sentence to go with that.

    14. Re:good by circletimessquare · · Score: 1

      if someone proves that with their freedoms they abuse others, they have forfeited their right to freedom

      if someone robs people, you lock them up, no one is robbed by that person anymore

      if someone rapes people, you lock them up, no is raped by that person anymore

      if someone DDoSes services, SWATs people, and threatens to kill, you lock them up, that person isn't doing that anymore

      it would be nice to help these people, but it's more important to help the rest of us live our lives

      unbothered by shitbags with serious transgressive amoral problems

      *sadistic* assholes hellbent on deranged ideas of *retribution* have proven to society they do not deserve freedoms

      society doesn't have infinite resources

      priority job number one: keep asocial douchebags away from abusing society

      distant job number two: help them with what limited resources we have, if we even can help them

      --
      intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    15. Re:good by bloodhawk · · Score: 2

      really you think the first responders to armed sieges or those on rampages with guns should be a couple of cops if their is a SWAT available? you think it is best to get an extra couple of ill prepared people killed first to make sure the threat is real? A SWAT team is far better trained to correctly evaluate a threat than the average cop. Chances are if cops were being sent in first in these situations then we probably would have more fatalities.

    16. Re:good by gnasher719 · · Score: 1

      Swatting is attempted murder.

      That, and swatting from the UK to the USA could get you extradited. Actually, I think it should get you extradited.

    17. Re:good by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      Maybe this has more to do that SWAT teams are so dangerous that it is recognised as being so out of control that anyone can use them as a very effective and lethal weapon to another person.

      That's another discussion entirely.

      But can we agree that calling the police with fabricated dire threats of terrorism or hostage-taking in order to silence someone you don't like is attempted murder, given the current state of policing?

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
  3. Re:SWATting... Swatting? Who knows... by the_other_one · · Score: 3, Informative

    Swatting

    --
    134340: I am not a number. I am a free planet!
  4. Re:Wrong guy by ArcadeMan · · Score: 1

    Maybe they asked Verizon or the MPAA to calculate the kid's age?

    --
    Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
  5. 18 years young by rmdingler · · Score: 1
    Well, isn't that crafty.

    Back in the old days when children played outside voluntarily, it was referred to as a prank call or a bomb threat, depending on how much money your Dad had... so some things are the same.

    For my money, 18 year-old-man is likely a misrepresentation of the facts.

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

    1. Re:18 years young by Noah+Haders · · Score: 2

      -1 disagree. swatting is a particularly dangerous type of prank call in which a swat team kicks in your door and carry live weapons. This is different than typical prank calls where you send the fire trucks to somebody's house. also, bomb threats are different than prank calls. Man, you had a messed up childhood.

      "18-year-old man" sounds about right, because he will likely go to pound-you-in-the-ass prison.

    2. Re:18 years young by sg_oneill · · Score: 1

      Back when I was a late teenager , the college I went to had semi regular bomb threats whenever exams or whatever where on. They'd have to evacuate the place so we'd all get the afternoon off. Eventually they caught the kid when he went into the administration office to borrow the phone to make the threat. Clearly not the sharpest tool in the shed.

      --
      Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.
    3. Re:18 years young by Richard_at_work · · Score: 1

      Just a note, but swatting doesn't happen here in the UK, all you would get is a few cars of armed police who would turn up, cordon off the road, and demand you come out of the house. No dramatic raid, only a few guns drawn. The police would basically outwait you.

    4. Re:18 years young by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Back when I was a late teenager

      Oh, I'm glad you came back to life. That's really lucky; not many people do.

    5. Re:18 years young by Richard_at_work · · Score: 1

      That's swotting.

    6. Re:18 years young by Noah+Haders · · Score: 1

      you can imagine how dangerous it is in the USA, where 1) the police will shoot at anything that moves to fast and 2) twitchy people will draw down on anything coming into their homes because they have the right to "stand their ground" and "protect their castle".

  6. Re:SWATting... Swatting? Who knows... by Mikkeles · · Score: 1

    What the inquiring mind wants to know: is he North Korean?

    --
    Great minds think alike; fools seldom differ.
  7. Re:Wrong guy by Richard_at_work · · Score: 2

    Where does it say that? That article is about someone completely different, not this arrest.

  8. Re:Wrong guy by Xest · · Score: 1

    High standards of journalistic understanding in that article I see:

    "Robert and Carol Cameron and their 16-year-old son Jordan had their lives turned upside down when he was implicated as the supposed mastermind behind the attacks on Xbox and PlayStation networks which left gamers unable to play their consoles online.

    Ironically, he does not even own an Xbox."

    Why is that ironic? They think you need an Xbox to be able to take down Xbox Live and Playstation Network? What?

  9. Re:SWATting... Swatting? Who knows... by JackieBrown · · Score: 1

    Busted
    http://science.slashdot.org/co...