The infamous hacking group Lizard Squad has resurfaced by carrying out more attacks on services such as H1Z1 and Planetside 2. The group is well known for it’s DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks on various service providers, gaming companies, and pretty much anyone that they deem a target. Their most well-known series of attacks came at the end of 2014 in which a series of DDoS attacks lasted for days, only being called off when Kim Dotcom offered the group a bribe to cease the attacks. That incident garnered a lot of negative and positive press for the group. They soon announced a DDoS for hire service in which they would rent out “time” on compromised web servers to customers, which parlayed that press into a business model. Hilariously, the servers acting as hubs for the service were later hacked, resulting in the compromising of customer data.
Many in the tech and infosec communities see the group for what it is. A loosely affiliated group with no ideological or political message who only seek to infuriate others with largely simple attacks. Despite the belief that most of their members and supporters are bored unskilled teenagers, they continue to see success and carry out attacks.
Last night Lizard Squad targeted Daybreak’s games with what Smedley called a “minor” DDoS attack – but it was significant enough to render all of the company’s games unplayable for many.
Earlier this week John Smedley, boss of H1Z1, PlanetSide 2 and Everquest developer Daybreak, formerly Sony Online Entertainment, heavily criticised convicted hacker Julius “Zeekill” Kivimaki, who he blames for a series of personal attacks.
Sadly for those who dislike these attacks, As the Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat reports, Julius Kivimaki — a.k.a. “Ryan” and “Zeekill” — was given a two-year suspended sentence and ordered to forfeit EUR 6,558.
Evidence presented at the trial of Kivimaki showed that he allegedly compromised more than 50,000 computers using vulnerabilities in Adobe’s Cold Fusion web application. While also participating in the theft of credit card data and a resulting money laundering scheme. All of these crimes were still not enough to convict him of a harsher sentence, making this a sort of victory for trolls and black hats everywhere.
Kivimaki himself said in a recent interview that “. . .it became apparent that no one suffered serious damages as a result of these alleged attacks.”. He also denied involvement in the 2014 bomb threat that grounded John Smedley’s flight, along with a campaign of harassment and leaking of personal data.
