The PlayStation store is the latest victim in a bombardment of cyber-attacks on Sony Corporation’s services. Since reports first emerged early this morning (GMT), visitors to the PlayStation store have been served a message saying ‘Page Not Found! It’s not you. It’s the Internet’s fault.’
Sony has yet to issue a full statement, but a post from an official Playstation Twitter feed reads: “We are aware that users are having issues connecting to PSN. Thanks for your patience as we investigate.”
Hacking collective Lizard Squad claimed responsibility for the attack on Twitter, posting a status that reads “PSN Login #offline #LizardSquad”.
Just last week, Lizard Squad claimed responsibility for a DDoS attack that took cloud-based gaming service Xbox Live offline. The group warned via Twitter to expect more attacks over Christmas – a threat that they appear to have followed up on.
Sony has had a miserable start to the holiday season, with reports emerging in late November that Sony Pictures Entertainment’s corporate network had been taken out. Follow-up reports revealed that vast quantities of Sony Pictures’ data had been stolen, including confidential personal and salary details.
In addition, hackers leaked online upcoming Sony Pictures films including Fury.
Industry commentators have issued statements highlighting disbelief at many of Sony’s security practices. Responding to reports that Sony had stored passwords in a folder called, unambiguously, ‘Passwords’, Lancope’s TK Keanini said: “There were many major mistakes made at Sony, but the question everyone should be asking is why does it take a major incident to find these mistakes, why didn't anyone catch these incredibly obvious insecurities prior to the incident and fix them?”
The Sony Pictures attack has been linked to North Korean actors. Last week, the FBI issued a warning about destructive wiper Trojan Destover, which may have been the malware that caused the initial shut-down.