**BREAKING: Phantom Squad is claiming to have taken Xbox LIVE offline. Microsoft has issued an Xbox LIVE service alert with reports of network outages***
Notorious hacker group Anonymous has responded to Phantom Squad's threats to take down Xbox LIVE and PlayStation Network on Christmas Day.
In a post on Twitter, Anonymous claimed that if Xbox LIVE or PSN go down as a result of a DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack, Micrsoft and Sony are to blame rather than, you know, the ones actually causing the DDoS.
If PSN or Xbox live goes down, Microsoft and Sony are the blame. You would expect these corporations to have sufficient DDoS protection.
— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) December 16, 2015
While it's true you would expect corporations that run massive online networks to have sufficient protection from groups like Phantom Squad and Lizard Squad, the irony is these companies wouldn't need such protection if script kiddies like Phantom Squad never existed. The very protection they claim Microsoft's and Sony's networks need stems from the fact that they are the ones doing the DDoSing.
For what it's worth, Anonymous vowed not to take down Xbox LIVE or PSN, but offered a bit of advice for gamers.
We won't take down PSN or Xbox live. But if you worry about not being able to play games on Christmas you need to re-evaluate priorities.
— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) December 16, 2015
To that I say, if you are worried about taking down Xbox LIVE or PSN on Christmas, you, too, need to re-evaluate your priorities.