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Crime Sony

Lizard Squad Bomb Threat Diverts Sony Exec's Plane To Phoenix 131

As if cutting off from their games millions of users wasn't enough for the day, Forbes reports that [the] hacker collective (or individual) known as the “Lizard Squad” succeeded in taking offline many gaming services including Blizzard’s Battle.net and Sony PSN. But things took a turn from irritating DDoS attacks to another level of harassment earlier this afternoon when the group took to Twitter to announce publicly that it a believed the flight carrying Sony Online Entertainment President John Smedley had explosives on board. The flight had been bound from Dallas to San Diego, but in response to the bomb threat, the plane was diverted to Phoenix.
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Lizard Squad Bomb Threat Diverts Sony Exec's Plane To Phoenix

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  • by Shadow of Eternity ( 795165 ) on Monday August 25, 2014 @07:07AM (#47746615)

    Pissing off game companies is one thing. Getting the DHS involved is another entirely. They've just brought a level of hell down on themselves they are woefully unprepared to deal with.

    • by argStyopa ( 232550 ) on Monday August 25, 2014 @08:20AM (#47746983) Journal

      Agreed.
      I can't mod this + enough.
      There seems to be a sort of collective dismissal of the power of government in hacker circles, as if the fact that some faceless bureaucrat in a lowly department failing to deploy a firewall to protect trivial information, or the FBI wasting billion$ on a worthless systems upgrade, were representative of the technological competency of the whole of the US gov't.

      I doubt that's the case.

      What people fail to understand is that the government is *huge* and as easy as it is to find laughable examples of waste, abuse, and outright incompetence, that's only one end of the bell curve.

      The OTHER end has incredibly competent people, giant fat gobs of money, and a wealth of resources that beggar the imagination (ie if they need something and cannot ask for or buy it, they can resort to overt legalities like subpoenas, or not-so-legal methods like property condemnation, deportation, or IRS audits) to compel behavior in pursuit of their goals. Further, the great bulk of the US populace (ie not the very vocal 0.01% on internet chat boards) is IN FAVOR OF LAW AND ORDER, full stop, and will cheerfully volunteer cooperation to "the authorities" however they can. The US federal gov't has tremendous credibility with most of the population.

      My point is enthusiastically reiterating the OP: it's one thing to hack some nerd-gamer servers, but when you attack the infrastructure of the US (and make no mistake, that's what this was) you will come to the attention of the 'sharp, pointy' end of the bellcurve.

      Good luck with that.

      • by Type44Q ( 1233630 ) on Monday August 25, 2014 @09:44AM (#47747713)

        The US federal gov't has tremendous credibility with most of the population.

        Oops. You were actually doing quite well until you screwed-up by blurting-out the above load of nonsense: as gullible and dumb as most of the population is, Uncle Sam hardly has "tremendous credibility with most of them."

        • Mind you, if you were to include mainstream media as a branch of the government (which would not be unreasonable, at least from the perspective of someone who has a good idea how things actually work), then your statement would have been a lot less inaccurate...
        • Oops. You were actually doing quite well until you screwed-up by blurting-out the above load of nonsense: as gullible and dumb as most of the population is, Uncle Sam hardly has "tremendous credibility with most of them."

          Slashdot is probably not a typical sampling of the US population and their feelings of the government, and "Credibility" doesn't necessarily mean "blind trust" or "unwavering devotion to".

          Nor do, I feel, most people view "the government" as a single, monolithic entity, even though it's often referred to as such. For example: would you say that most people feel rather differently about the NSA versus the US Postal Service? How about the National Guard versus the US Congress? The CIA versus the Census Bure

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by ShaunC ( 203807 )

          as gullible and dumb as most of the population is, Uncle Sam hardly has "tremendous credibility with most of them."

          Sure he does. You think people don't worship federal law enforcement? Look at the coverage of, say, the Boston bombing; the media and the general public were all lining up to praise any officer who was involved in that situation. Same with Sandy Hook, same with "sabu" and Anonymous, same with every story that gets publicized.

          Police abuses are currently part of the national dialogue thanks to what happened in Ferguson, MO. But it took that event, a racially charged shooting, to get national attention and wak

        • You're mixing the three branches of the Feds with the "government." The government is everything from your DMV clerk to the NSA analyst who wrote the software that's automatically reading and categorizing this.

        • by Rakarra ( 112805 )

          I think he -should- have said "The FBI has tremendous credibility with most of them."

      • I think it's less about technical know how and more about now having the authority to issue warrants to service providers and connect the dots.
      • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) * on Monday August 25, 2014 @10:36AM (#47748257) Homepage Journal

        That's assuming that they have jurisdiction. If Lizard Squad is not in the US... Well, better hope their country is on good terms with you guys and is willing to hand them over.

        • by Dutch Gun ( 899105 ) on Monday August 25, 2014 @11:38AM (#47748827)

          Oh, I'd wager they're almost certainly in the US, or at least another relatively wealthy country with an extradition treaty. They're also probably a bunch of teenage males from moderately well-off families, and who have far more free time and impotent angst than good sense. Anyone living in an area with lots of real-world problems as opposed to first-world problems wouldn't bother targeting videogame companies or Sony executives.

        • (looks at the last 13 years of US conduct in the "war" on terror)
          You think jurisdiction - or lack thereof - makes *any* substantial difference?

          Seriously?

      • by Anonymous Coward

        Whatever makes you believe that the public infrastructure was hacked? It's just as likely there was a gamer in the airport or onborad the very same flight as the Sony exec and the information necessary to make the threat seem credible was purely coincidental. Of course DHS couldn't risk the consequence of being inattentive to a tweet, since the entire US intelligence strategy is laser-focused on Total (electronic) Information Awareness to the growing exclusion of hum-Intel.

        The growing cost of security overh

      • What people fail to understand is that the government is *huge* and as easy as it is to find laughable examples of waste, abuse, and outright incompetence, that's only one end of the bell curve.

        "Did you really think they were spending $500 on a hammer?"

      • The government doesn't even NEED to be all that competent, just competent *enough* to figure out where the person they need to fuck with is.

    • by luis_a_espinal ( 1810296 ) on Monday August 25, 2014 @08:27AM (#47747025)

      Pissing off game companies is one thing. Getting the DHS involved is another entirely. They've just brought a level of hell down on themselves they are woefully unprepared to deal with.

      My thoughts exactly. These kids better find a cave or a hole on the ground somewhere near the Khyber Pass or Timbuktu. Making bomb threats/pranks? There is a whole lot of angry coming right at them right now, the likes you can only escape by being a government entity, not some stupid script kiddie.

      • There's already a whole lot of angry coming at them right now, they stopped me from playing GTA V online yesterday... :O

        In all seriousness, I think the fastest way to make your hacking group completely hated is to hack gamers. Lulzsec and Anonymous to some degree, were completely despised after what they to gamers.

    • Reminds one of the scene in Burn After Reading where Chad tries to blackmail Osbourne Cox:

      Osbourne Cox: If you ever carried out your proposed threat you would experience such a shitstorm of consequences, my friend, your empty little head would be spinning faster than the wheels of your Schwinn bicycle back there.

      Chad Feldheimer: Y-you think that's a Schwinn?

  • by Anonymous Coward

    It is starting to look more and more like this is FamedGod's doing, and these lizardtards are just trying to highjack the lulz.
    https://www.facebook.com/Lizar... [facebook.com]

  • Twit....ter (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Himmy32 ( 650060 ) on Monday August 25, 2014 @07:19AM (#47746659)
    Looking at Lizard Squad's twitter feed they have the maturity level of about a screaming toddler. The obvious lack of thinking is painful. They see these things as just pranks and a way to make a political statement. But bomb threats and DDoS attacks are a good way to waste your prime years in prison.
  • by Rosco P. Coltrane ( 209368 ) on Monday August 25, 2014 @07:23AM (#47746683)

    I don't know what's worse: being blown out of the sky with explosives or having to stay in Phoenix.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    These lizardsquad chuckle heads have been DDoSing all the major game networks for the past 3 weeks. They even claimed to have DDoS fbi.gov and nsa.gov over that same time. Now they finally have the fame they were looking for all along. CNN, Forbes and the front page of /.

  • by Joe Gillian ( 3683399 ) on Monday August 25, 2014 @08:13AM (#47746939)

    I just don't get why someone would be willing to commit criminal activity like they did just to annoy some people. It's not exactly a show of skill - PSN has been a low-hanging fruit for DDoS attacks since forever - and it's clearly not making them any money. I'm sure there's also ways they could've annoyed people more without having DHS coming after them for calling in a bomb threat. If I had a DDoS-capable botnet I'd at least do something fun with it, like spam mobile email addresses with fake CNN updates purporting that Christ has risen and he's declared the Year of the Linux Desktop.

  • They said they've been receiving reports about a bomb on the plane, not that they put one there. They didn't make a bomb threat; they relayed one.

    • by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 25, 2014 @08:31AM (#47747065)

      yeah, the same way the maffia would tell you: "it's a nice little shop you have there, I heard something bad could happen to it, like a fire, or a bomb. Want me to check on you once in a while ? you know just to be sure you're safe and all ?"

      it's not like they would ever threaten anyone. Just relaying some hearsay and proposing some help.

    • by gnasher719 ( 869701 ) on Monday August 25, 2014 @08:45AM (#47747183)

      They said they've been receiving reports about a bomb on the plane, not that they put one there. They didn't make a bomb threat; they relayed one.

      They better have proof that they received a bomb threat then.

      • by ADRA ( 37398 )

        Yes officer, I just yelled fire because 'someone else' did. I didn't start a panic for nefarious purposes or anything. There's only ONE place to report the threat of a bomb, and that's to authorities, not to a general public who can often knee jerk a response to a potentially real emergency without any form of organized response.

  • by luis_a_espinal ( 1810296 ) on Monday August 25, 2014 @08:30AM (#47747049)

    But things took a turn from irritating DDoS attacks to another level of harassment earlier this afternoon when the group took to Twitter to announce publicly that it a believed the flight carrying Sony Online Entertainment President John Smedley had explosives on board.

    From US Code, Title 18, Part I, Chapter 40 844 - Penalties

    (e) Whoever, through the use of the mail, telephone, telegraph, or other instrument of interstate or foreign commerce, or in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, willfully makes any threat, or maliciously conveys false information knowing the same to be false, concerning an attempt or alleged attempt being made, or to be made, to kill, injure, or intimidate any individual or unlawfully to damage or destroy any building, vehicle, or other real or personal property by means of fire or an explosive shall be imprisoned for not more than 10 years or fined under this title, or both.

    This is not including whatever state laws that were violated on top of Federal laws. One (well deserving) word: Darwin.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      And the little fuckers talk about their exploits like some drunken dip-shit at a bar. They've lost sympathy from one group of people that might have some for them and they've called in a federal felony level bomb threat. Someone, perhaps their own bragging, is going to rat them out for this and a few years from now, they will be drug out of their mom's basement to the glaring light of CNN while mum tearfully cries on national TV about her over weight pasty skinned stereotype and the loss of every microp

  • by RedK ( 112790 ) on Monday August 25, 2014 @08:47AM (#47747201)

    They also pissed off "the better man". https://twitter.com/FamedGod/s... [twitter.com]

  • The real hack (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Charliemopps ( 1157495 ) on Monday August 25, 2014 @10:10AM (#47747969)

    Everyone seems to think this was no big deal... it was just a DDOS and the use of a phone! etc...

    My question is: How did they know what flight Smeadly was on? That right there is the scary bit...

    • If you read the article the information about the exec and where and when he was traveling was public, they just looked up the most likely flight he would be on and used that.
    • You are on Slashdot and you wonder how simple data like that was obtained? There are about a hundred ways to track a person now. Hell most people carry a tracking device on them.
    • Re:The real hack (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Skuld-Chan ( 302449 ) on Monday August 25, 2014 @12:52PM (#47749545)

      Its pretty easy - Smeadly said he was going offline on a flight that had no wifi on twitter and that he was heading back to San Diego - he also said this on twitter. So all you have to do is figure out what convention Smeadly was at yesterday - so you know the originating city - and I'm guessing maybe there were a couple flights a day from there to SD.

      Its a guess, but its a pretty educated one.

      This is like first level private eye stuff here - people really assume everything they do is private, and then they give people clues publicly where they are without a second thought - and then it looks all hackerish like these guys have l33t skills.

  • ... that these are not real internet lizards, just posseurs. I suspect that GEICO jerk. He's a sell-out.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    Put Sony Exec on the no fly list.

  • So wait... it's OK if it blows up in Phoenix, but not in San Diego? Not sure I understand the logic of rerouting the flight.
    • It is better if it blows up on the ground after all the people get off than while over southern California in the air with all on board. Thus diverting the flight to a closer airport where they can get on the ground and get all the people off sooner.

      A bomb with a timer won't know that it should blow up sooner because the airplane will land sooner. A bomb with a pressure sensor will blow up on descent either way. Pick a path that does the least harm.

Fast, cheap, good: pick two.

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