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Lizard Squad Get a Taste of Their Own Medicine

Worst Hackers EU


abcnews.com

Hacker group Lizard Squad rose to new heights of infamy recently after they took Playstation Network and Xbox Live down on Christmas Day. Known as a DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack, the move was essentially a ploy for the group to promote their service, which is why a few days afterwards they came out with ‘LizardStresser’, a bit coin fuelled service that would allow anyone to bring down sites of their choosing in the same way


Since then two UK arrests have been made in connection to Lizard Squad, but for all intents and purposes it certainly seemed like they got what they wanted, until now. Security researcher Brian Krebs has reported that their database has been hacked. That’s right, a group of hackers who brought down two of the biggest gaming networks in the world, on the busiest day of the year, have in fact been hacked themselves. 


nydailynews.com

The result of this security breach is that the database containing all the user information about their clients has been leaked. That includes usernames, emails, passwords and, crucially, financial information. Here’s the best part, though – none of this information was in any way encrypted. This basically means that the details of 14,000 would-be hackers have made their way into the hands of the authorities. 

This ironic backlash might have something to do with the group adopting a more overt, public persona in the wake of the PSN and XBL attacks. Vince Omari, the first man to be arrested in the UK in connection to Lizard Squad actually appeared on Sky News, billed as an ‘online security analyst’. Days before said appearance, BBC Radio 5 conducted an interview with two anonymous Lizard Squad members, one of whom sounded eerily similar to Omari. This strikes me as one of those ‘emperor has no clothes’ type situations. 


Omari is out on bail now until March, but his initial arrest has spiraled into what amounts to a full-on global manhunt. The FBI have been working in conjunction with both the UK authorities and the Finnish police, who have also hauled in a suspected hacker audacious enough to show his face on camera. 


A lot of this seems fairly reminiscent of what happened to Lulzsec, the hacker group who famously went after the CIA just a few years ago. They gradually transitioned from a clutch of shadowy ne'er-do-wells into a kind of global infamy, ultimately leading to their downfall. The key difference is that whilst Lulzsec’s guiding prerogative never really extended being chaos, Lizard Squad seem far more interested in money. Even if the group ends up weathering a similar implosion, it’s unlikely we've heard the last of them.


Callum Davies

Callum is a film school graduate who is now making a name for himself as a journalist and content writer. His vices include flat whites and 90s hip-hop. Follow him @CallumAtSMF

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Lizard Squad Get a Taste of Their Own Medicine Reviewed by Unknown on Monday, January 19, 2015 Rating: 5
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