LIZARD SQUAD is Back. Planning XBL Attack. "Biggest attack yet". [UP: XBL/PSN Down]

Honestly, by acknowledging them, we're giving them exactly what they want: attention.

Because of the far-reaching effects of their actions, it's impossible to talk about the effects without referencing the cause. You could talk around them, but you'd still be leaving a them-shaped hole, so it's the same end result. Just ignoring them outright however, has never really been shown to work in my opinion. Sociopaths and bullies rarely just give up and go away when ignored - they escalate, trying to see how far they need to push before there is a reaction again. And that escalation can be a dangerous thing. There's no easy right or wrong path here, it's a complex social issue.

So uh, is this a YMMV kinda thing? I was on PSN 3 times throughout the day for an hour or two each, mainly playing Xrd, and I encountered no problems at all.

Pretty much. Some people would get lucky and connect during a lull in the storm, or when their region was not explicitly being attacked, or whatnot. Others have not been able to do anything all day. So it really depends on region, time of day, what you were doing, and just general alignment of the celestial bodies.


"Band of hackers". Gotta love shoddy reporting. At least they were clever enough to add "So far there are no indications that the two hacks are related.".
 
What's one day of not gaming. Sounds like they did us a favor for one day.

Look in front of you, those are called people. They may be friends or family, spark up a conversation.

Happy holidays.

worked all day...no family in the state where i moved for work...friends busy with their families...my fiancee is in another country....

god forbid i want to play some games after work...start a party, chat with online friends...i'm a horrible person...
 
I'm unable to do this because it says my license can't be verified. A few days ago I lost access to my Destiny DLC when PSN went down then and a kind gaffer told me how to restore those licenses : Too bad I need to connect to PSN to reverify my licenses. My PS4 is decorative right now, I can't even watch Malcolm in the Middle.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLgjo4JDlKA ALL DAY!

You need to make your PS4 your primary console in the settings.
 
What's one day of not gaming. Sounds like they did us a favor for one day.

Look in front of you, those are called people. They may be friends or family, spark up a conversation.

Happy holidays.

It's late at night and I've been hanging out with family all day and week. What is wrong with wanting to try out my new video game console before I go to bed? Especially since I will be hanging out with family all day tomorrow as well.
 
Well, the more they keep at it, and the more attention they get, bigger are the chances of them being actially caught. And of course, or they're gonna give up, or theyre gonna get fucked. At the right time.
 
Uggh I bet that kid is an entitled little prick just like his mum. People need to get angry at the fuckers responsible for this and not the companies losing and spending money to fix it.

I don't know, it's entirely possible that that Xbone was one of only a couple gifts because of the cost. Maybe even the only gift. It's not uncommon for parents to say that if the kid wants an Xbone/PS4, Santa won't be able to get other things. Then the kid says that's all he wants. Then he gets that one thing but can't play all day long.

OBVIOUSLY there are much worse things that can happen in life. This is clearly a "first world problems" thread. Things will be fine in a couple days and all be right with the world.

Having said that, I do have some sympathy for a kid being stuck looking at a network connection lost screen after opening, what is in his mind, the greatest gift he's ever received. We've all seen the "N64 Kid" video. Imagine if that kid couldn't play Mario all day. I also have some sympathy for the parents who had every intention of making this Christmas the "best Christmas ever" and do not know what's going on or why their ~$400 purchase doesn't work.
 
To highlight how rickety the Internet can be, one of the largest DDoS attacks on record took down giants like Google and Twitter within minutes. It was unintentional.

When Michael Jackson died, the sheer amount of people all going to Google and Twitter to confirm, or find info, made both services fall over. Twitter literally broke, while Google threw up an iron wall and asked people to enter a Captcha to prove their human - the traffic volume was so much and so instant, it tripped Google's penultimate DDoS protection system.
So....in theory....could Sony and Microsoft implement a captcha system for when network traffic becomes overloaded? Could you go through a process to verify your IP address as a "trusted" connection?

Like DDOS attack launched
-old users with verified IP > ok to log in
-new users or users with unverified IP > enter captcha

Don't know anything about how this kind of thing works, just curious if Googles "solution" could work here.
 
Look at their twitter.

They love doing this because they got followers, retweets, etc. Its the only reason they are doing this. Guess what? You dont give them attention, you take away their forum to gloat, they stop doing this.

But people just keep feeding them, and they'll keep doing this.
 
Did they forget to turn them back on after the sttack?

Because of the nature of DDOS attacks, even if the attacker initiated the call to stop, the actual attacks take a good long while to wind down. You can't just "turn it off".

That is, of course, if LS really did initiate the call to stop.
 
I bet Sony and MS lost a LOT of money today from potential sales from their online stores.

Not even counting all the consoles that will be returned to stores tomorrow from parents who don't know this (DDoS) is going on.

2 friends and 1 family member both brought back Xbox Ones today because of this. It was their go to gift for the kids on xmas, the one they were most sure they would like, and they were totally let down.

Damn shame.
 
2 friends and 1 family member both brought back Xbox Ones today because of this. It was their go to gift for the kids on xmas, the one they were most sure they would like, and they were totally let down.

Damn shame.

Did you tell them it'd be a temporary problem?
 
So....in theory....could Sony and Microsoft implement a captcha system for when network traffic becomes overloaded? .

In theory, yes. But the moment an attack hits up against that wall, all it has to do is go one step back and attack whatever connections are routing you to that security door, and you're back to square one. The problem isn't really one of trying to figure out who is real and who isn't, but rather, that a network is being completely flooded.

HaRyu said it best:

Imagine you live in a house and you only let in people whom you designate as friends. Unfortunately, the only way to tell if someone is your friend is they have to ring a doorbell, and you have to go up to the door, open it and physically check if they are your friend or not before you let them in.

Now, if it was normal internet traffic, you can handle this simple task fairly well.

Now if a DDOS was going on, imagine millions of people (who have no business being there) rushing to your door, and each one constantly ringing the doorbell, and you having to keep getting back up, open the damn door, and check each one.

I mean, by your example, a system is already in place like that: authetication/security certificates. But like I said, you still have to actually check each connection to even verify. A DDOS is just the massive traffic spike while the server is going crazy trying to figure out who the hell is trying to come in.

why not just have your friends do a special door bell ring sequence? that way you know when its a friend or some random asshole.

Aha, you forget the part about the million assholes at your front door all trying to ring the doorbell.

Your legitimate friends might actually be in that million, and they're trying to get to the door... but they can't, because there's a million assholes trying to ring the damn doorbell.

By some miracle, one of your friends actually makes it to the doorbell, THEN you let them in. This is why during a DDOS attack, you might get amazingly lucky and actually be able to log in. By pure dumb luck, you managed to initiate a handshake and the server went "oh thank fucking god, someone who isnt an asshole" and lets you in.

But then you do the stupid thing, and realize that you forgot something in your car, so you have to go back outside. And goddamit, the only way back in is through those million assholes. This is also why if you're already logged in, you're could be perfectly fine, but as soon as you do the stupid thing and log out, you're screwed.
 
2 friends and 1 family member both brought back Xbox Ones today because of this. It was their go to gift for the kids on xmas, the one they were most sure they would like, and they were totally let down.

Damn shame.

That makes me incredibly sad. Can't imagine how disappointed the kids must've been.

Fuck LizardSquad.
 
Did you tell them it'd be a temporary problem?

Is it though? Everytime this happens, the only way it ends is with the people initiating it backing off for either the promise of tangible goods or just getting the attention they wanted.

This kind of thing is wildly successful for them from a publicity standpoint, other groups will see it, this could go very badly for online console gaming over the next year if these groups decide to step it up.
 
Guys come on, its impossible to not talk about it and spread the word thats its happening. Its impossible to not give them that level of attention. Wanting news outlets to not cover it is just plain silly.

Now what Kim did, that is what not to do.
 
This kind of thing is wildly successful for them from a publicity standpoint, other groups will see it, this could go very badly for online console gaming over the next year if these groups decide to step it up.

I think it was going to be a problem no matter what. There is a kind of inevidability to when it becomes widely known that a system has an exploitable button you can press to make it go squeak. Going back to the old ICMP Nuke days of making Win 95 lock up by sending it a modified ping packet, there's usually only been one of two outcomes: the exploit is patched, or people move on from the system that was exploitable.

How the current DDoS styles work, doesn't seem to be patchable, and there is no Internet 2 or Internet 2015 to upgrade to. It's a real problem.
 
in case anyone is curious about the cost: 1000 bots are typically around $30-50 per hour or $200-$500 per day (US/Western Europe) with an avg bandwidth of 1mbit. Asia/Africa bots can be had for $50 a day, but the available bandwidth is a lot less.

So for the price of a ps4 you get a 2hr 5gbps ddos.
 

How to play xbox one offline:

Settings > Network > Go offline.

DO this if you still having problems.

But then you can't load/save games right?

You cant load cloud saves on XBox One, but the saves on your HDD will be loadable, and then when Live gets back you can sync your saves with the cloud again.

So if you want to play a single player game or offline just turn the XB1 into offline mode and you will be sorted.
 
Apparently Kim Dotcom gave LS a lil something to make them stop the attacks. https://twitter.com/KimDotcom/status/548275217320001536
https://twitter.com/KimDotcom/status/548275217320001536

And the continued downtime is just the "aftermath" https://twitter.com/LizardMafia/status/548329364417708033

Played AC Black Flag during the attack but couldn't do my fleet missions because for some silly reason that requires connection to Ubi. :S

I like KimDotcom saying this after he handed over the bribe.

@KimDotKim Take away their rights, spy on them, lie to them & they don't get mad. Mess with their gaming servers and they will be furious. #SadButTrue
 
In theory, yes. But the moment an attack hits up against that wall, all it has to do is go one step back and attack whatever connections are routing you to that security door, and you're back to square one. The problem isn't really one of trying to figure out who is real and who isn't, but rather, that a network is being completely flooded.

HaRyu said it best:
Thanks for the explanation (both you and HaRyu). Would actually be nice to see them get added to the OP.
 
Guys come on, its impossible to not talk about it and spread the word thats its happening. Its impossible to not give them that level of attention. Wanting news outlets to not cover it is just plain silly.

Now what Kim did, that is what not to do.

That guy's Twitter profile says he has five kids.

I wonder if he rewards them when they misbehave, too.
 
Did you tell them it'd be a temporary problem?

Most certainly did, but all they see is the reality of a Christmas horribly ruined for their kids. The toughest part of it was their kids calling me on their own using their parent's phone to ask for assistance in getting the system operational. I knew there was nothing that could fix it in that moment, but I didn't want to just dismiss their requests for help altogether and just hang up because they sounded way too damn excited, so I basically went along with the whole thing, taking them through some stuff while explaining to them in the simplest way possible what was actually taking place, and that it in no way meant their new xbox was somehow damaged.
 
Anyone else having problems loading Minecraft on PS4? I select "play game" but it just stays at that menu and the controller stops working. I don't know if it's related to PSN being down or not, but it's never happened before.
 
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