The Sony Entertainment Network as well as the Sony Playstation are now back online after the services got targeted by hackers over the weekend. The networks went offline after they suffered from a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS).
"The networks were taken offline due to a distributed denial of service attack," Sony announced in its blog. It also said, "The PlayStation Network and Sony Entertainment Network are back online and people can now enjoy the services on their PlayStation devices."
A DDoS attack is an attempt by malicious entities to keep users from accessing a service. It sabotages a target company or host by disrupting its services temporarily or even indefinitely.
A group of hackers that calls themselves Lizard Squad seems to be taking credit for the attack. They announced on Twitter, "We're putting a bunch of lizards in the pipes on their way to Sony."
We're putting a bunch of lizards in the pipes on their way to Sony.
— Lizard Squad (@LizardSquad) August 24, 2014
Additionally, the group also caused chaos as they tweeted to American Airlines that there could be explosives on a flight headed for San Diego. Incidentally, onboard the plane was Sony's online entertainment president John Smedley. According the Sydney Morning Herald, the flight was diverted to and landed safely in Phoenix.
.@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
After the incident, Smedley also took to the microblogging site, saying, "Yes. My plane was diverted. Not going to discuss more than that. Justice will find these guys."
Yes. My plane was diverted. Not going to discuss more than that. Justice will find these guys.
— John Smedley (@j_smedley) August 24, 2014
Despite the bogus bomb scare and the widespread service interruption, Sony assures users that personal information were not compromised during the DDoS attack, saying, "We have seen no evidence of any intrusion to the network and no evidence of any unauthorised access to users' personal information."
Because of the unexpected interruption, Sony will postpone its regular maintenance, supposedly scheduled for Monday, Aug. 25.
