Lizard Squad claims responsibility for taking down Xbox Live today

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A group describing itself as "DDoS kings" who "just want to watch the world burn" has claimed responsibility for taking the Microsoft Xbox Live network down for an hour or two earlier today. The Lizard Squad, posting from a Twitter account called LizardPatrol, published a message warning that "Microsoft will receive a wonderful Christmas present from us" and say that taking Xbox Live offline was "a small dose of what's to come on Christmas."

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The downtime impacted upon users of both the Xbox 360 and Xbox One, returning an 80151909 error when trying to connect to Xbox Live. According to Microsoft support, this error code occurs when "Xbox Live profiles can't be downloaded" and indicates a temporary profile download failure. Seeing as there were no issues being reported on the official Microsoft site regarding the Xbox Live network, which is usually the case, it would suggest that a DDoS attack could have been the cause.

At the time of writing Xbox Live appears to be back up and functioning normally once more. Whether this was, indeed, a DDoS attack and if it is indicative of more to come is as yet unknown. If it does prove to be the case then the fact that the group claiming responsibility says it is doing it for kicks is a little worrying. Of course, it could just as easily be a group of bored kids jumping on an entirely unrelated downtime event for the kudos. Only time will tell I guess.

Microsoft has yet to comment on the cause for the failure, or the claims by the LizardSquad that it will take Xbox Live down over the busiest seasonal period.

Dani AI

Generated

As reported, accounts of a short Xbox Network outage — and public claims of responsibility — appeared while the root cause was still uncertain. Attribution in real time is unreliable; the immediate priorities are to triage, gather evidence, and avoid amplifying unverified claims. The checklist below is a concise, practical set of steps for players and for operators who need to respond or file reports.

  • Run the console's built‑in network test (Settings → Network → Test network connection).
  • Power‑cycle your router/modem and the console; try a wired Ethernet link or a mobile hotspot to isolate your home network.
  • Verify other Internet services are reachable to rule out local ISP issues.
  • Check official status pages and outage trackers for wider reports.
  • Record timestamps, take screenshots of any errors, and note which features (sign‑in, matchmaking, purchases) were affected.
    These user steps are standard troubleshooting guidance. (howtogeek.com)

For network or service operators: look for objective indicators that separate a DDoS from an internal failure — sudden large inbound volumetric spikes, abnormal SYN/UDP patterns, BGP or routing anomalies, and simultaneous authentication failures across regions. Preserve netflow records, interface counters, BGP/route updates, server logs, and any packet captures; these are essential for mitigation and later investigation. (cisa.gov)

Mitigation and containment: notify your upstream ISP or transit provider immediately (they can apply upstream filters or RTBH), consider routing through a CDN/Anycast fabric or scrubbing service, enable application rate‑limits and WAF protections, and use a tested incident playbook so actions are fast and repeatable. These layered controls are the industry standard for keeping services online during attacks. (techtarget.com)

If criminal activity is suspected, preserve all logs and contact your ISP and law enforcement; U.S. victims can report to the FBI/IC3 and to CISA for coordination and guidance. Focus on measurement and evidence handoff rather than public attribution — that makes follow‑up investigations far more effective. (ic3.gov)

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