Lizard Squad: Behind the group responsible for recent huge hacks

THEY have hacked Sony, Microsoft, Taylor Swift and even North Korea. These are the people who want to ruin the internet for everyone ‘because they can’.

Meet the group trying to ruin the internet

LATE yesterday afternoon, Facebook, Instagram and Tinder went offline. While Facebook claimed it was “not the result of a third party attack”, a hacker group called Lizard Squad took responsibility for it.

Early this morning, that same group claimed responsibility for hacking everyone's favourite pop star Taylor Swift’s Twitter and Instagram accounts. They even threatened to post nude pictures of Swift (for the record, she denies that any exist).

PS any hackers saying they have 'nudes'? Psssh you'd love that wouldn't you! Have fun photoshopping cause you got NOTHING.

— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) January 27, 2015

The group also said they were responsible for a series of hacks on Microsoft and Sony’s online gaming networks over the Christmas period.

Facebook, Instagram, Tinder, AIM, Hipchat #offline #LizardSquad

— Lizard Squad (@LizardMafia) January 27, 2015

So who, or what is Lizard Squad?

Basically, it’s a hacking group which just wants to cause trouble. And thus far, no one has really been able to stop it.

When interviewed last year by BBC Radio Five Live in the UK, a 22 year old from the group, calling himself “Member Two”, said the reason they hacked sites was “because we can”.

“I wouldn’t call myself a top-grade hacker… but I do know some of my stuff, and this proves it,” he said.

The 22-year-old also hinted that Lizard Squad was hacking companies like Microsoft and Sony to show their security weaknesses. Of course, that logic doesn’t work when it’s hacking into celebrities’ social media accounts.

“It’s just such a huge company, Microsoft... Do you not think they should be able to prevent such an attack?” he said.

While the sort of damage caused might lead people to believe a big group is behind the attacks, “Member Two” said there were “no more than 10 members” in Lizard Squad, and that there was was no “Lizard King”.

“Someone decides or comes up with an idea, and if everyone likes it, we just go ahead with it.”

Two of the members’ identities are believed to be known, and “Member Two” is one of them. He is suspected to be a security analyst from England called Vinnie Omari. He even appeared on Sky News.

The other is a 16-year-old Finn called Julius Kivimaki, who also appeared on Sky News last month.

Kivimaki is suspected to be the teenager arrested by Helsinki Police in 2013 on suspicion of being a part of an “international Hacker group,” and possessing over 3,000 stolen credit cards.

Who have they attacked?

Most recently, Lizard Squad claimed responsibility for attacks on Facebook, Taylor Swift, the Malaysia Airlines website, Sony and Microsoft.

In late August, Lizard Squad attacked Sony’s PlayStation Network and even threatened Sony’s President of Online Entertainment, John Smedley, saying there could be a bomb on his plane. Nothing was found, but the group earned itself attention from the FBI.

After releasing a statement claiming they were finished with their destructive practices, the group returned in September with an attack that saw them periodically take down the online platforms of popular games such as Call of Duty, FIFA, Madden and The Sims.

Lizard Squad also claimed it was responsible for taking down North Korea’s entire internet access for 24 hours in late December, in what was said to be a retaliation for the alleged North Korean-ordered hack of Sony Pictures.

After all these hacks and attacks, the group has bragged and taunted its victims online. All for “the lulz”.

How are they doing it?

Most of the attacks are done via a DDoS (distributed denial of service). This is when you deliberately send so much internet traffic to a certain server that it can’t take it anymore and crashes.

It’s unclear how Lizard Squad would have got into Taylor Swift’s account or taken down North Korea’s entire internet access.

The hacking group fighting back

Other hacking groups across the world seem to be getting sick of Lizard Squad’s childish behaviour, and have started fighting back.

Before Christmas, a group known as the “Finest Squad” released personal information about members of Lizard Squad. Known as “doxxing”, this is the ultimate punishment for hackers, many of whom can only survive with anonymity. Some members were arrested by US authorities after and even live tweeted the events.