Sony’s PlayStation back online after Christmas hack

SONY’S PlayStation says its network is back online and claims it was attacked, three days after it and Microsoft’s Xbox went down in an outage.

FILE- This March 8, 2012 file photo shows attendees walking past the Sony PlayStation PS Vita console on display in the Sony PlayStation booth at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. Sony's PlayStation network remains offline on Frday, Dec. 26, 2014, in an outage that began as video game players unwrapped new consoles on Christmas. Microsoft's Xbox Live service, which had also gone down, is back online but the company says some applications aren't fully functioning. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

SONY’S PlayStation says its network is back online and claims it was attacked, three days after it and Microsoft’s Xbox went down in an outage.

An allegedly co-ordinated Christmas Day hack brought down the gaming consoles, both hot gifts for the festive season, although Xbox has been working at near full capacity since Friday.

“PlayStation Network and some other gaming services were attacked over the holidays with artificially high levels of traffic designed to disrupt connectivity and online gameplay,” Catherine Jensen, vice-president of consumer experience for Sony’s California-based US division, said in a blog post.

“PlayStation Network is back online,” she added.

Meanwhile, all except three of Xbox’s applications have been up and running since Friday.

Game users took to Twitter to celebrate PlayStation’s return.

“Was just about to pack this ps4 up and trade it towards an xboxone. Just in time.” Twitter user @xander63090 posted.

Hacker group Lizard Squad took credit for the disruption and has targeted Sony in the past.

Sony had earlier this month been hit by a sophisticated hacking attack that stole huge amounts of data from its servers.

The US has blamed North Korea for the attack, with the reclusive state furious at the release of Sony film The Interview, which parodies leader Kim Jong-un.

However, analysts said a direct connection between the Sony PlayStation and Sony Pictures attacks was unlikely, and that the latest hack was probably the work of fame-seeking amateurs.

Originally published as Sony’s PlayStation back online after Christmas hack