UK law enforcement makes arrest for Christmas PlayStation and Xbox DDoS attacks

By Will Fulton January 17, 2015

arrest made connection christmas attacks playstation xbox lizard squad — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Law enforcement in the U.K. arrested an 18-year-old man outside of Liverpool, England in connection with the Christmas DDoS attacks on Sony and Microsoft’s gaming servers, according to the BBC. He has been accused of unauthorized access to computers and knowingly providing false information to U.S. law enforcement agencies. The investigation was a joint operation between the FBI and multiple British law enforcement agencies for both organized and cyber crime.

Both the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live gaming services went down on Christmas day 2014, under distributed-denial-of-service attacks, (DDoS) crippling servers for a few days. The hacker group Lizard Squad claimed responsibility for the attacks, describing them after the fact as advertising for “Lizard Stresser,” a for-hire DDoS service for taking down websites by overwhelming them with artificial traffic.

Craig Jones, head of one of the involved British cyber crime units, emphasized that the investigation is ongoing: “We are still at the early stages of the investigation and there is still much work to be done. We will continue to work closely with the FBI to identify those who commit offences and hold them to account.”

The arrested man is being charged specifically for “swatting,” the practice of calling in erroneous crimes to law enforcement so that misinformed SWAT teams are sent out to harass innocent targets. The practice has become an unfortunate trend in the gaming community over the last few years as an extremely disruptive form of trolling. The press release makes explicit accusations about swatting and the December DDoS attacks, though gives no official indication of the man’s connection to Lizard Squad.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Will Fulton is a New York-based writer and theater-maker. In 2011 he co-founded mythic theater company AntiMatter Collective…

Gaming

Best PlayStation Plus Deals: Save on Essential, Plus and Premium

Best PS Plus deals

Sony's PlayStation 5 is one of the biggest consoles of the generation, and we're not just talking in terms of sales or game releases. Much like the PlayStation 4, it's taken a while for the PS5 to take its stride, but it finally has a great lineup of games that are worth checking out. Of course, one big downside to consoles like the PS5 is that, unlike a gaming PC where you can connect to multiplayer servers without an issue, you have to have a subscription service, in this case, called PlayStation Plus. It's not all bad, though, since there are some tiers that give you access to a large PS games library and a few other perks, so it's worth grabbing for more reasons than just access to online content.

Also, while you're here, be sure to check out these excellent PS5 game deals and PlayStation deals that include some great games and accessories you can get for a great price.
What is PlayStation Plus?
Along with online multiplayer and other in-game network features, a PlayStation Plus Essential membership grants you access to exclusive discounts and other promotions. Perhaps the most notable benefit of PlayStation Plus is that every month, Sony gives subscribers one PlayStation 5 and two PlayStation 4 games that are free to download. You have one month to add these free PlayStation Plus games to your library.

Gaming

The best games on PlayStation Plus, Extra, and Premium

A person plays Crash Bandicoot using a PS5 DualSense controller.

PlayStation Plus has undergone several iterations and changes since its introduction. Originally, the service wasn't required for online play at all and rewarded subscribers with extra discounts and free monthly games. Once the PlayStation 4 generation began, it was required for online play, but still offered those same benefits.

Now, PS Plus is divided into three different tiers of subscriptions. The basic tier, PS Plus Essential, still gets three games per month added, while the Extra and Premium tiers will have a varying number of games added to their catalogs. With hundreds of games already and more coming and going all the time, even the most dedicated gamer won't be able to play everything on offer. To help you get the most bang for your buck and so that no hidden gems fly under your radar, here are all the best games to play on PS Plus Essential, Extra, and Premium right now.
Best PS Plus Essential games
As is usually the case, everyone with the lowest tier of PS Plus gets three games this month, two with PlayStation 5 versions and one with a PS4 version. Here's what you can play this month:

Gaming

I would buy a PlayStation Portal 2 if it had this one feature

A Pulse Elite, DualSense, and PlayStation Portal sit on a table.

I've had a bit of a love-hate relationship with the PlayStation Portal since it launched. Initially, I was disappointed by Sony's cloud streaming device. I was impressed with its screen and appreciated its DualSense integration, but its slimmeddown features made it feel like a cheap version of a good idea. I've since learned to find a use case for my PlayStation Portal that turned it into an integral part of my gaming setup. It's very imperfect, but that doesn't mean it's not useful.

Ever since its launch, I've been hoping for a refreshed follow-up, whether that be a Pro model or a true PlayStation Portal 2. It may be way too early to start discussing that considering that the Portal just launched in November 2023, but the promising device has enough glaring flaws that I'd welcome a fast-tracked successor. If Sony were to make a PlayStation Portal 2, though, there's one feature that's nonnegotiable: Bluetooth.