What Really Happened in the Aftermath of the Lizard Squad Hacks

A group of hackers called Lizard Squad were bragging about their massive DDoS attack on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network .

PlayStation Network at the time had about 110 million subscribers, and Xbox Live had roughly 48 million .

Xbox was back to normal within 24 hours —on Boxing Day , but PlayStation struggled for longer.

Lizard Squad showed zero remorse for the impact of the attack on the gaming industry.

Julius Kivimäki , an already infamous teen hacker and delinquent from Finland , agreed to come to us for an interview.

He was utterly unremorseful and arrogant, struggling to stifle a smirk throughout the interview.

PlayStation and Xbox also received a torrent of abuse, with PlayStation offering a five-day extension to subscription periods and 10 percent off as compensation.

Vinnie Omari , aka Ryan ,” aka “Ryan Cleary” was arrested on New Year’s Eve .

He was later cleared of any involvement in the Christmas DDoS attacks.

Another 19-year-old , Bradley van Rooy , was accused of conspiring with other members of Lizard Squad to operate websites that provided cyberattack-for-hire services.