Cyber Incident Victim: Daybreak Games
Date:
Feb 2015
Location:
United States of America
Summary
A gaming studio formerly known as Sony Online Entertainment experienced server disruptions due to a DDoS attack claimed by the Lizard Squad hacking group, impacting multiple online titles including a newly released zombie survival MMO. The group, which had previously targeted the studio's president with a bomb threat and faced recent arrests of alleged members, simultaneously announced an attack on Microsoft’s gaming network in collaboration with another group called Like No Other (LNO), causing widespread service outages.
| CIA Posture | Motives | Tactics, Techniques & Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| Available to members | 3 motives | 1 technique |
| Threat Actors | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 3 actors | Available to members | Available to members |
Description
In February 2015, Daybreak Games—formerly Sony Online Entertainment—experienced a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack attributed to the hacking group Lizard Squad. The incident occurred over the weekend preceding February 17, disrupting servers for multiple online games, including the recently launched zombie survival MMO *H1Z1*. Daybreak Games president John Smedley publicly acknowledged the attack, prompting a response from an account using Lizard Squad’s branding (@LizardPhoenix), which taunted Smedley with the message: "What's up, long time no see :)." This interaction referenced prior conflicts between the parties, notably a 2014 bomb threat against a flight carrying Smedley during his tenure at Sony Online Entertainment. Lizard Squad had previously targeted Sony’s PlayStation Network (PSN) in August 2014 and launched Christmas 2014 attacks against both PSN and Microsoft’s Xbox Live. The group’s resurgence followed setbacks in January 2015, including the compromise of its DDoS-for-hire tool LizardStresser and the arrest of two alleged members. The attack on Daybreak Games marked its first major activity after these events, occurring after Sony had sold the studio to investment firm Columbus Nova, which rebranded it as Daybreak Games.
Concurrently, Lizard Squad claimed responsibility for an Xbox Live outage on February 15, 2015, announcing the attack via Twitter and attributing it to a collaboration with another group, Like No Other (LNO). The group cited specific LNO-affiliated Twitter accounts (@LNOuNiTy, @LNOVenom, @Guidelines, @we_are_lno) as participants. The disruption caused Xbox Live service issues significant enough to make "Xbox" a worldwide trending topic on Twitter, which Lizard Squad celebrated with a tweet stating: "Haha 'Xbox' is trending Worldwide. We're back :)." No technical details regarding attack vectors, mitigation efforts by Daybreak Games or Microsoft, or duration of outages were disclosed in the source material. The incident underscored Lizard Squad’s continued focus on high-profile gaming platforms and its use of social media to claim credit and amplify visibility. Daybreak Games confirmed operational impacts but did not specify remediation steps beyond identifying the attack type.