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The hacker activist group known as Lizard Squad
has claimed responsibility for disrupting both the PlayStation
Network and Microsoft Corp's <MSFT.O> Xbox Live on Christmas
Day. Service was restored to Xbox Live on Friday.
"We are currently experiencing widespread network issues that
are being addressed," Sony said in a statement on PlayStation's
maintenance website.
Hours earlier, Catherine Jensen, vice president of consumer
experience at Sony Computer Entertainment America, said on the
PlayStation blog that the network was "back online."
Some gamers said on Twitter that they were able to access the
PlayStation Network on Sunday, but others took to the
microblogging site to complain about the continuing outage. It
was not clear how many of the 56 million video gamers who use
PlayStation still suffered problems.
On Sony's Twitter customer support account, AskPlayStation, a
representative wrote, "Network services are gradually coming
back online."
Sony has been the victim of some of the most high-profile
security breaches in history.
In late November, Sony Pictures' computer system was taken down
by hackers protesting the film, "The Interview," which depicted
the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. U.S.
President Barack Obama has blamed the North Korean government
for the attack.
Lizard Squad has claimed responsibility for attacks on the
PlayStation Network in early December and August of this year.
The August attack coincided with a bomb scare in which Lizard
Squad tweeted to American Airlines that it heard explosives were
on board a plane carrying an executive with Sony Online
Entertainment.
In 2011, hackers stole data belonging to 77 million PlayStation
Network users.
(Editing by Tiffany Wu)
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