December 25th was not a joyful day for gamers who rely on the services provided by Microsoft and Sony. Since yesterday, both networks have not been working as expected, allegedly due to a group of hackers known as Lizard Squad.
Days before Christmas, Lizard Squad announced it would disrupt one or two game services. Once the day arrived, services were interrupted. On the evening of Dec. 25, Kim DotCom tweeted @LizardMafia in order to stop the DDOS (distributed denial-of-service) attack to both networks. After some more tweets, Lizard Squad accepted the offer by Kim DotCom to cease attacking the services in exchange for Mega credits. The hacking group said they stopped their DDOS attack, however, even 24 hours after the alleged responsibility, both services have not fully recovered.
Asking Mega management to approve 3000 @MegaPrivacy premium vouchers for @LizardMafia if they stop attacking XBOX Live and PSN immediately.
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) December 26, 2014
A Christmas Miracle. How @MegaPrivacy saved @Xbox & @PlayStation from the @LizardMafia attack. Enjoy your games! 
pic.twitter.com/qoaZ33eqCi
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) December 26, 2014
Even though nobody knows who is really responsible, both services have been informing their followers via the social networks, esp. Twitter, about the conditions of Xbox Live and PlayStation Network.
Update 1: As of 11:45pm EST (12/26/2014), all Xbox Live services except IGN, Maxim, and MLB.TV are currently working, but as in the morning and the rest of the day, the Xbox core services were not working efficiently.
Xbox Live
Some Xbox One users may currently be experiencing issues signing into Xbox Live. Please see https://t.co/99xfLNN0o8 for more info. ^AD
— Xbox Support (@XboxSupport) December 26, 2014
The holiday season can get pretty busy! If you've tweeted us, gotten no response and still need assistance, please let us know! ^LB
— Xbox Support (@XboxSupport) December 27, 2014
We're aware that some of you are still having trouble; our teams are on the case! Latest status info here: https://t.co/99xfLNN0o8 ^QZ
— Xbox Support (@XboxSupport) December 27, 2014
@CamThePie We don't have an exact ETA, I'm afraid; but keep an eye on the status page for the latest info as we have it. ^QZ
— Xbox Support (@XboxSupport) December 27, 2014
@NicholasSzaldak Hey there, we're currently in the middle of a service alert: https://t.co/4cL7JjHH37 Let's try again after it clears. ^JP
— Xbox Support (@XboxSupport) December 27, 2014
PSN
Scored a new PS4? Check out the PS4 Information Hub: https://t.co/1fB2TCUbON Lots of great info in one convenient place.
— Ask PlayStation (@AskPlayStation) December 25, 2014
Please follow @AskPlayStation to get the latest updates as we work to restore full network functionality.
— Ask PlayStation (@AskPlayStation) December 26, 2014
Update: We are working to restore full network services for all platforms – thanks, as always, for your patience!
— Ask PlayStation (@AskPlayStation) December 26, 2014
https://twitter.com/AskPlayStation/status/548688004269998082
[Sources]: Microsoft: Xbox Live Service Status; Sony: @AskPlayStation; @KimDotCom.
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