An 18-year-old man in the UK has been arrested over the denial of service (DDoS) attacks against the PlayStation Network and Xbox live last year, and who may be connected to the Lizard Squad hacker group.
The South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU) Cyber Crime Unit made the arrest, along with the Titan North West Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU) in the town of Southport. Officers detained the man following the online attack against the two biggest gaming console networks on Christmas Day.
Now, according to the SEROCU website, the police crime unit has been able to finalise its co-ordinated arrest with the help of the FBI in the US. Aside from the DDoS attacks, the FBI had been chasing the suspect regarding ‘swatting’ attempts.
Essentially a crank call for the 21st century, ‘swatting’ is when someone calls in serious criminal activity to a particular location in the hope of getting someone they might not particularly like in a lot of trouble, something which the Southport man is accused of doing.
If the arrested man is indeed one of those responsible for the attack, he may well be a member of the Lizard Squad, which has claimed responsibility for last month’s attack, as well as another DDoS attack last August.
Craig Jones, head of the cyber crime unit at SEROCU, said this investigation is a good example of joint law enforcement co-operation in relation to a type of criminality that is not restricted by any geographical boundaries.
“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 to who commit offences and hold them to account,” Jones said.
Lizard image via Shutterstock
