Hacker group claims cyberattack on Xbox Live

A hacking group has claimed responsibility for a cyberattack on the popular gaming network Xbox Live, Ars Technica reports.

The service is currently back online, but some users had trouble logging in overnight.

{mosads}For the past week, the so-called Phantom Squad has threatened to take down the networks of Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network over Christmas.

The group threatened to knock out both services by flooding the networks with phony traffic until they crash, a technique known as a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack.

“We are going to shut down Xbox live and PSN this year on christmas. And we are going to keep them down for one week straight #DramaAlert” the group tweeted last week.

Tweeting from an eponymous account, the group said it is taking action because the makers of the devices aren’t doing enough to adequately safeguard their networks. The account has since been suspended.

The threats echo another case of holiday gamer “hacktivism.” Last year, the more well-known hacking group Lizard Squad took down the same two networks on Christmas Day, allegedly to force XBox and PlayStation to upgrade their cybersecurity.

The group’s members are widely thought to be younger and less sophisticated than Anonymous, arguably the most well-known organized hacking group.

Earlier this fall, four U.K. teens were released on bail on charges of launching cyberattacks using a tool made by Lizard Squad. The teens allegedly used the “Lizard Stresser” DDoS tool to attack a national newspaper, a school, gaming companies and several online retailers.

The arrests were part of a larger raid intended to identify individuals linked to Lizard Squad.