Police in the UK, working in cooperation with the FBI, arrested an 18-year-old man Friday in connection with recent DDoS attacks on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live services.
The authorities arrested the unnamed man in Southport, and he is being held on suspicion of computer crime and unauthorized access to computer material. UK officials said the man also is suspected of being involved in some unspecified swatting incidents. The term swatting refers to incidents in which someone gives information to a police agency with the intent of having the police respond with a SWAT or tactical unit to the victim’s house.
Members of the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit in the UK seized a number of devices in connection with the arrest.
“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. Offences referred to as ‘swatting’ involve law enforcement forces in the United States receiving hoax calls via Skype for a major incident in which SWAT teams were dispatched,” Craig Jones, Head of the Cyber Crime Unit at SEROCU, said in a statement.
“We are pursuing cyber criminals using the latest technology and working with businesses and academia to further develop specialist investigative capabilities to protect and reduce the risk to the public.”
Both Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network have been frequent targets for attackers for several years, and the latest attacks occurred over the holidays last month. Hackers took down both services with DDoS attacks and members of the Lizard Squad hacking group claimed responsibility for the attacks.
