Cyber Threat Actor: Phantom Squad

Phantom Squad, also known by its alias Phantom Squad, is a hacking group identified as operating from the United States of America. The group primarily directs its activity toward online gaming platforms and services. Observed targets include Steam, Origin, Battle.net, League of Legends, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and Electronic Arts servers. Their stated objective is to cause disruption, specifically to ruin holiday gaming periods for users. This disruptive aim is repeatedly claimed in public messages where they promise extended outages during peak holiday times.

Phantom Squad’s main tactic is the deployment of distributed denial‑of‑service (DDoS) attacks against the aforementioned gaming services. They have described using small‑scale test attacks before launching larger, sustained DDoS campaigns. The group communicates its claims and threats via social media, most notably Twitter accounts that have been suspended following their posts. Public sources indicate that Phantom Squad has collaborated with other hacking collectives, namely VandaSec and PhantomSec, which pledged support for its operations. Additionally, the group has reported adding a former member of LizardSquad, identified by the handle @RootedExploit, to its ranks.

Representative operations include the December 2015 DDoS assault on Electronic Arts’ servers that prompted an official apology from the company and the subsequent claim of attacks on PlayStation Network. Another notable campaign occurred in December 2016 when Phantom Squad, together with PoodleCorp, claimed responsibility for simultaneous outages affecting Steam, Origin, Battle.net and League of Legends during the holiday shopping period. Law‑enforcement interest in the group has been documented, with the FBI reported to be investigating its activities. Investigations have led to arrests, including a seventeen‑year‑old member who was convicted of over fifty thousand charges related to DDoS conduct, though he did not serve jail time. These facts constitute the publicly available profile of Phantom Squad based on the supplied source material.