Just days ago Lizard Squad member Julius Kivimaki was convicted of over 50,000 computer crimes related to DDoS attacks against video game services, most notably the violent attacks that made headlines during the 2014 Christmas season. Despite his crimes, he was served a two-year suspended sentence by the Finnish justice system. This didn't bode well for many of those who have been financially and/or personally affected by these attacks.
Daybreak Game Company (formerly Sony Online Entertainment) CEO John Smedley has been vocal about his disdain for those who engage in DDoS attacks over the years, and took to Reddit yesterday to post his thoughts on the matter. His post was lengthy totaling at over 400 words, sharing his personal experience with hackers and script kiddies including being swatted and signed up for countless credit cards in 2014, in addition to other hateful acts involving him and his family.
His post was very sincere and grounded in reality, which appears to have struck a chord with online script kiddies, especially Smedley's comment that Kivimaki should have received a much larger sentence.
Within an hour of the posting, several Daybreak game servers were brought to their knees. It was like the worst kind of magic as H1Z1 and PlanetSide 2 were crippled by a flood of DDoS traffic.
Soon after, the "official" Lizard Squad Twitter account took credit for the attack by posting the following:
John Smedley has personally acknowledged the DDoS bombardment on Twitter, where he stated the following shortly after the onslaught began:
The attacks have been anything but "minor", with both H1Z1 and PlanetSide 2 sub-Reddits and forums being filled with uproar as both games remain unplayable a full 21 hours later. The attacks have impacted Daybreak financially, as they have shut down transactions in addition to potentially turning off players from playing these games in the future. The recent arrival of the PS4 version of PlanetSide 2 made this a particularly damaging event for Daybreak's flagship MMOFPS title.
Daybreak states that it's working diligently to restore services. Unfortunately, DDoS attacks are a very difficult thing to deal with, so there's no telling when stability will be brought to its network.
