Kim Dotcom Apparently Saved Christmas Gaming from Hackers
PlayStation Network and Xbox Live were down for much of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but it looks like they were resuscitated by the actions of Kim Dotcom, founder of encrypted internet storage service Mega.
PSN and Xbox Live have been intermittently unavailable throughout the Christmas holiday, and while you might think that’s it’s just a crush of people activating and playing the new consoles they got for Christmas, a group of hackers is claiming credit for the downtime. The group that calls itself “Lizard Squad” has been tweeting throughout the last three days, claiming to have downed both the networks through Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks. A DDoS attack in its most basic form consists of flooding an internet server with traffic, overwhelming its capacity and making it unavailable to legitimate users. The group has been taunting the companies on Twitter, and claiming that they’ll allow the services to come back up if they get a certain number of re-tweets or favorites.
That is, until late yesterday, when Kim Dotcom got involved. The New Zealand entrepreneur apparently offered free lifetime premium accounts to every member of Lizard Squad if they’d call off the attacks.
Hi @LizardMafia, I want to play #Destiny on XBOX Live. I'll give your entire crew Mega lifetime premium vouchers if you let us play. Cool?
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) December 25, 2014
Remember… Lizard Squad only gets the benefit of free Mega premium accounts if they don't attack Xbox Live & PSN again. #ThatsTheDeal
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) December 26, 2014
That deal seems to have coerced the hackers to cease their attacks, if this tweet from Lizard Squad is any evidence.
Thanks @KimDotcom for the vouchers–you're the reason we stopped the attacks. @MegaPrivacy is an awesome service.
— Lizard Squad (@LizardMafia) December 26, 2014
As of the time of this post, I was able to confirm that both networks are operating (at least for me).
The disappointing thing about this deal isn’t that the attacks were stopped. It’s that in order to do so, someone had to step in and reward the hackers for their illegal actions. While this certainly fixes the issue for now, what happens the next time someone decides they want to take down the online console services, or maybe just decides they want free Mega accounts? It’s not the best precedent to set, in all honesty.
Additionally, we have only these tweets to confirm the information, so we’re taking it all with a grain of salt.
Still, at least console owners can finally play online. That’s definitely a good thing.
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8 Comments on Kim Dotcom Apparently Saved Christmas Gaming from Hackers
Steven
On December 26, 2014 at 1:11 pm
Not sure I like the idea of appeasing hackers like this … hope the software comes with location tracking code!
Tan
On December 26, 2014 at 6:22 pm
It is now 3:21am, Saturday morning December 27 in The Netherlands, And I still can not log into PSN.
Haven’t been able to sign in since the night of Wednesday 24th.
Also the online store on PC is still inaccessible.
I wanted to open my presents in GTAO. Seems I’m missing that one.
Guess nervous Ron was right about the Lizard people after all.
John Deer
On December 27, 2014 at 8:08 am
LOllll, the best Gamers Choosed a PC, we didint have a single problem with Hackers, GG Owned. PC Master Race. Console peaseants got to learn to live with their mistakes, and choices.
AxΣtwin
On December 27, 2014 at 8:33 am
I’m reading that PSN is STILL down.
R.J.
On December 27, 2014 at 12:39 pm
I’d rather sit and wait, rather than reward this behavior. You don’t give your kid a cookie to make him stop coloring on the walls.
Aedelric
On December 27, 2014 at 12:55 pm
I do not personally use any consoles, but I feel for those that do. It is a complete *insert insult here* move to bring down Sony and Xbox services over Christmas just for attention. I simply can not understand how anyone can get a kick out of ruining a fellow gamers Christmas.
Steven is right, rewarding criminals for doing wrong is only giving reason for others to do the same. I hope Kim Dotcom can get personal information on the guys to pass along to the correct authorities otherwise I can only roll my eyes at his actions.
bob
On December 28, 2014 at 7:38 pm
go kill yourself john deer
R.J.
On December 29, 2014 at 6:35 am
@Aedelric
I agree with you in that I don’t understand the mindset of people that do things like this. There is already enough misery in the world without people going out and deliberately making trouble for people they don’t even know. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should do it.