Alleged Sony Hacker Arrested

Well, this week an 18-year old was arrest in Southport, near Liverpool, in the United Kingdom as part of the investigation into the interruption of services from the attacks on Sony PlayStation and Xbox over Christmas.

On Christmas Day, Sony’s PlayStation Network went back offline due to disruptions from a group of hackers. The group, called Lizard Squad, or someone posing as them, took to Twitter to claim credit for interruption. It took several days until the security issue was finally cleared and the network went back online. Apparently, the reason was to expose the security flaw.

Well, this week an 18-year old was arrest in Southport, near Liverpool, in the United Kingdom as part of the investigation into the interruption of services from the attacks on Sony PlayStation and Xbox over Christmas.

He has been accused of access to unauthorized computer material, and knowingly providing false information to law enforcement in the US.

The arrest was a joint effort between South East Regional Organized Crime Unit (Serocu) and the North West Regional Crime Unit (Rocu), that supported the National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU). Agent Craig Jones, head of the Cyber Crime Unit said, in an article by the BBC,: “We are still at the early stages of the investigation and there is still much work to be done. We will continue to work closely with the FBI to identify those who committ offences and hold them to account”.

The charges include swatting, which he defined as involving “law enforcement forces in the United States receiving hoax calls via Skype for a major incident in which Swat teams were dispatched”.

Whether the young man is part of the hacking group Lizard Squad remains to be seen.