Report: Hacker Group Lizard Squad Loses Members to Arrest

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Report: Hacker Group Lizard Squad Loses Members to Arrest

Back in 2014, some will remember, the hacker collective known as Lizard Squad took on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live, delivering an attack in the midst of the holiday season. While there were some concerns that a holiday attack might have come again with the last holiday season, that concern is a little less likely now as some of Lizard Squad's membership was arrested recently.

The two members in question, according to a report from the Department of Justice, were Bradley Jan Willem van Rooy--currently in custody in the Netherlands--and Zachary Buchta, taken in in Maryland. Both were 19, and connected to an investigation into other alleged efforts by Lizard Squad, including a kind of "revenge for hire" service involving threatening phone calls and other distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.

These weren't the first arrests connected to the attacks, as some of them go back to August of 2015.

Great news for everyone who was hoping for a holiday season of uninterrupted gaming. With that time of year being home to the most federal holidays, as well as being vacation or layoff time for many, the environment boasts a lot of opportunities for long bursts of gaming. With PSN and Xbox Live down in these times, that takes a lot of potential gaming out of the equation. Not all of it, of course, but enough of it to be clearly felt. With large chunks of the Lizard Squad down, perhaps this will mean a quiet 2016 holiday gaming season. Such a development would be welcome, though only time will tell if it actually comes to pass.

Hackers can be a terror when it comes to gaming, and Lizard Squad had been a particular thorn in gamers' sides. Hopefully, all these arrests will keep the squad out of the picture for the next several months.


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