Tech

Hackers Attack PlayStation Network In The Name Of ISIS, Ground Sony Exec’s Plane With Bomb Threat

Giuseppe Macri Tech Editor
Font Size:

Japanese Electronics Manufacturer Sony reported Monday an attempt to crash its PlayStation Network online gaming platform by hackers, who at the same time grounded a plane carrying a Sony executive with a bomb threat.

“The PlayStation Network and Sony Entertainment Network have been impacted by an attempt to overwhelm our network with artificially high traffic,” the company said on its PlayStation.Blog. Sony said “no personal information” on the network’s 150 million-plus users “has been accessed.”

The company also said an American Airlines commercial airliner carrying Sony Online Entertainment President John Smedley from Dallas to San Diego had to be redirected to Phoenix Sunday after the same group claimed there was an explosive device on board.

“Yes. My plane was diverted. Not going to discuss more than that. Justice will find these guys,” Smedley said on Twitter Sunday.

A Sony spokeswoman said a Twitter user with the handle @LizardSquad claimed responsibility for both incidents.

It’s likely the reference to ISIS is a bad joke.

The attacks on Sony’s gaming and online music sites began Sunday and reportedly took the network down in mass in North America, with intermittent rolling outages persisting more than 10 hours after the first attacks in some areas.

Follow Giuseppe on Twitter and Facebook