On the same day of the The Interview‘s release, following an intense debate between Sony, the public and the government on the nature of free speech and U.S. relations with North Korea, it seems hackers are at it again.
The hacking group Lizard Squad claimed responsibility for flooding and bringing down Sony’s Playstation and Microsoft’s Xbox Live gaming systems on Christmas day, according to CNN. “Flooding” involves filling “networks with illegitimate traffic, overwhelming the ability of servers.” According to the group, the attack started out as something “for the laughs,” but later on they explained that the purpose of the attack was to encourage these companies to tighten security on their systems. So far, there have been no proven links between this attack and the ones against Sony’s release of The Interview.
Throughout Christmas Day, gamers complained via Twitter regarding the lack of service. Hours after the companies announced the problems had been fixed, consumers still struggled. The problem only grew throughout the day, as more gamers, who presumably received new consoles for the holidays, joined the networks.
But these attacks seem to be part of a much larger debate in the cyber-warfare sphere, almost something out of a sci-fi film, called hacktivism.
Anonymous, for instance, a network of online activists (or “hacktivists”), routinely organizes denial-of-service stunts, designed to shut down websites they disagree with. The group developed on 4chan in 2003, the internet message board responsible for the illegal distribution of female celebrities’ naked photos earlier this year. But the group has also made other statements, such as those defending animal rights when they targeted the Missouri city’s government websites after its police forces shot two dogs, seemingly needlessly, while investigating a drug charge.
Yet, even Anonymous has called out Lizard Squad, most recently for disrupting the Tor Network, an online service used by whistleblowers. One of its most notable users was Edward Snowden, and today many dissenters, according to Anonymous, need Tor to fight corrupt governments in the Middle East.
While agitating Playstation users is certainly a nuisance, getting involved with political activism is another issue.
However, according to recent article from The Verge, many remained unconcerned for now. The Tor Network believes Lizard Squad’s attacks are run-of-the-mill and manageable; other technological experts argue that the organization needs to build up significantly more capacity to be effective.