Twitch gets hit with DDoS attack by the Lizard Squad

published 27 August 2014

Newly-acquired live streaming firm Twitch has been the target of a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack by hacking collective Lizard Squad.

The site, which was acquired by Amazon earlier this week for $970 million, was taken offline overnight for a time, with users complaining about problems accessing content.

We're currently investigating issues with the site. Please stay tunedTwitch Support (@TwitchSupport) August 27, 2014

Lizard Squad, a relatively new entrant to the hacking community, claimed responsibility for the DDoS attack on Twitter.

It also used the social networking site to urge Twitch users, while the site was down, to post pictures of themselves on Twitter with Lizard Squad written on their foreheads to demonstrate how badly they'd like the site back online.

COME ON GUYS, WHO WANTS TO BE FAMOUS FOR SAVING TWITCH?Lizard Squad (@LizardSquad) August 27, 2014

The group has also been implicated in the DDoS attack waged against the Sony Playstation network earlier this week, and for initiating a bomb scare on a flight where John Smedley, president of online entertainment at Sony, was present.

At the time of writing, Twitch was back online.

The site is used by more than 45 million users each month to record and live stream their PC, Xbox One and Playstation 4 gaming escapades online for others to watch.

Before being acquired by Amazon, the platform was reportedly on the verge of being snapped up by cloud giant Google for a similar amount of money.

Caroline Donnelly is the news and analysis editor of IT Pro and its sister site Cloud Pro, and covers general news, as well as the storage, security, public sector, cloud and Microsoft beats. Caroline has been a member of the IT Pro/Cloud Pro team since March 2012, and has previously worked as a reporter at several B2B publications, including UK channel magazine CRN, and as features writer for local weekly newspaper, The Slough and Windsor Observer. She studied Medical Biochemistry at the University of Leicester and completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Magazine Journalism at PMA Training in 2006.

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