Sony’s PlayStation Network is back online following a weekend server attack.
On Sunday, August 24, Sony released a statement confirming that its PlayStation Network and Sony Entertainment Network were targeted by a distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack, flooding servers and making network services unavailable.
We are under attack by a large scale ddos. Being dealt with but it will impact games until its handled.
— John Smedley (@j_smedley) August 24, 2014
This attack also reportedly affected Xbox Live, Blizzard Entertainment, Riot Games and Grinding Gear Games. Unlike the massive attack against Sony’s servers in 2011 that compromised thousands of usernames and passwords, Sony emphasized in its statement about the latest attack that, "Although this has impacted your ability to access our network and enjoy our services, no personal information has been accessed.”
On Sunday night, the network reported in the PlayStation Blog that “The PlayStation Network and Sony Entertainment Network are back online and people can now enjoy the services on their PlayStation devices."
Hacker group Lizard Squad not only claims responsibility for the DDoS attack, but it also brazenly threatened Sony Online Entertainment President John Smedley. The group took to Twitter claiming that the American Airlines plane on which Smedley was flying had explosives on board.
.@AmericanAir We have been receiving reports that @j_smedley's plane #362 from DFW to SAN has explosives on-board, please look into this. — Lizard Squad (@LizardSquad) August 24, 2014
The threat was taken seriously, and the plane was diverted to Phoenix where passengers were deplaned and the cargo was inspected.
Awesome. Flight diverted to Phoenix for security reasons.
— John Smedley (@j_smedley) August 24, 2014
The FBI is now reportedly investigating the incident.
Yes. My plane was diverted. Not going to discuss more than that. Justice will find these guys. — John Smedley (@j_smedley) August 24, 2014
