The FBI has confirmed to VentureBeat that it is indeed investigating Lizard Squad for the Christmas Day DDoS attacks which crippled both Xbox Live and the Playstation Network gaming services.
“The FBI is investigating the matter,” a spokesperson for the bureau told GamesBeat. “Given the pending nature of the case, we cannot comment further.”
Lizard Squad has been a thorn in the side of gamers lately, although after brokering a deal with Kim Dotcom on Christmas Day have sworn they will not attack the online gaming services again. As relieving news as that might be, it still doesn’t excuse the fact that Lizard Squad – who claimed responsibility for the attacks – brought down the two services on perhaps one of the busiest gaming days of the year and not only prevented gamers from gaming, but also from purchasing items through the respective services online stores.
One of Lizard Squad’s members who uses the alias “ryanc” and calls himself Ryan, has appeared in various interviews with the BBC and Sky News. It is believed that he is 16 or 17 years old and resides in Finland where, according to The Daily Dot, he feels that he is safe from prosecution due to a 1966 UN treaty that gives citizens of various countries certain civil rights.
Ryan, who has formerly gone by the aliases “zee” and “zeekill,” says he is not concerned about the FBI’s investigation. They will not apprehend him, he says, at least while he remains in Finland—and he may be right. Finnish citizens have a right to refuse extradition to other countries. Finland also reserves the right to refuse extradition due to a suspect’s age, and can stipulate that Finnish citizens may not be prosecuted even if they are extradited.
You can check out the Sky News interview below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngp4kSB5z80
According to Ryan, it isn’t his first run in with the law or the FBI as he claims he has spent three months in prison for the bomb threat earlier this year made against an American Airlines flight on which President of Sony Online Entertainment John Smedley was to fly. He also claims the FBI visited his hotel room at the Rio in Las Vegas last year after ordering food using a stolen credit card while attending the annual Defcon hacker convention.
Do you think they’ll be able to bring Lizard Squad in to face charges in relation to the latest service disruptions they caused? Let us know in the comments below or on Google+, Facebook, or Twitter.
[button link=”http://venturebeat.com/2014/12/30/fbi-confirms-lizard-squad-under-investigation-for-psn-xbox-live-attacks/” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: VentureBeat[/button][button link=”http://www.dailydot.com/crime/fbi-lizard-squad-ryan-sony-psn-playstation-network-microsoft-xbox-live/” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: The Daily Dot[/button]Last Updated on November 27, 2018.
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