konknaijaboy | On 29, Aug 2014

VIRAL GLOBAL NEWS

A group of hackers, going by the name of the Lizard Squad, claims to have been responsible for launching a cyber attack against the popular video streaming platform Twitch. The hackers started their onslaught on Aug. 26, with a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack causing the online service to fold for a short period.

Twitch has not made any official comment on the nature of the down time, but insisted it was looking into the matter. On the @TwitchSupport Twitter account, officials provided scant details: ” We’re currently investigating issues with the site. Please stay tuned.”

The Lizard Squad also claim to be behind a series of DDoS attacks that took a number of other gaming services offline over the weekend, infuriating members of the community. The incident, which took place on Aug. 24, culminated in Sony’s PlayStation Network (PSN) being rendered out of action, as well as Blizzard’s Battle.net platform.

After PSN was taken offline, the Lizard Squad then tweeted that a series of explosives were aboard an American Airlines flight that was carrying Sony Online Entertainment (SEO) President John Smedley. The incident prompted the authorities to redirect the plane, which performed an emergency landing in Phoenix.

In the aftermath of the attacks, SOE representatives indicated that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was investigating. This announcement seemed to encourage Lizard Squad hackers, who released a barrage of disparaging Twitter messages, belittling the agency’s attempts to catch them.

The group recently stated that they had tried to knock Microsoft’s Xbox Live service offline, but were unsuccessful. “Microsoft props to you for giving us a challenge, good work. Sony, smh,” said one tweet.

The latest DDoS attacks were ended after a number of popular Twitch streamers and YouTube personalities capitulated to the Lizard Squad’s demands. Twitter users Mia Rose, MaxMoeFoe and Sky Williams wrote “Lizard Squad” on their foreheads and tweeted photos to the hackers. This seemed sufficient to appease the hackers, and the attacks quickly subsided.