Hackers group "Lizard Squad" claim responsibility for DDoS attack on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network

Xbox Live

It was indeed a sad spectacle when Xbox and PlaySation owners were baffled on Christmas day and eve when their consoles were knocked offline.The Microsoft Xbox Live Network and Sony's PlayStation Network were down for much of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, in what's believed to be a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. Hackers flood a site with tens of thousands of access requests overwhelming servers and shutting them down.

It's a common attack, according to cybersecurity expert Steve Laff. He told me the hackers are not likely after money. "They're trying to teach this company a lesson that you need to have better protection or they may be doing it for sport," Laff said. "They're just idiots." The Lizard Squad hacking group is taking credit for the attack. On Christmas Day they taunted gamers on Twitter saying: "I wonder how many people tried to return their new console thinking it was broken."

The hackers claimed to have ended their attack on Christmas night. These attacks on Microsoft and Sony do not appear to have any connection to the controversy over Sony's release of the film "The Interview.“ In comments made online, members of the Lizard Squad said they chose Christmas day for their attack because it would anger the largest number of people. As for why they did any of this in the first place, they said they did it because they could.

Tweets by members of Lizard Squad after carrying out the attack,