First Lizard Squad Arrest, Xbox LIVE And PSN Attacker Raided By British Police
The first arrest in the Christmas day attack on the PlayStation Network and Xbox LIVE online services was finally made. The home of a member of the attention seeking Lizard Squad was reportedly raided by British law enforcement agents on Monday.
The Daily Dot reports that 22-year old Vinnie Omari was arrested by the Britain’s South East Regional organized Crime Unit. The unit raided Omari’s home, and he confirmed that they “took everything,” including all of his phones, laptops, computers, and an Xbox One.
Omari was released on bail until March 10, 2015, according to a Thames Valley Police press release. He was arrested on “suspicion of fraud by false representation and Computer Misuse Act offense.”
Omari told The Daily Dot that no charges have been filed yet, “just alleged charges.” Presumably, charges are pending based on what police computer forensics team pulls off of his computers and other items taken from his home during the raid.
The Lizard Squad took credit for bringing down both PlayStation Network and Xbox LIVE on Christmas day via a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. This shut both services down for most of the day until Mega Privacy’s Kim Dotcom provided a questionable payoff to get them to cease the attacks. Xbox LIVE mostly recovered by the weekend, but the PlayStation Network struggled through Monday evening with individuals PS Plus subscribers still reporting problems.
If you are still having any issues signing on to PSN, please post here with the details requested: http://t.co/60gXTxzanV
— Ask PlayStation (@AskPlayStation) December 30, 2014
The attack on the PSN and Xbox LIVE may not be the only charges that Omari faces, however. The Thames Valley Police press release reveals more alleged illegal doings. The arrest yesterday (12/30/2014) is in connection with an ongoing investigation in to cyber fraud offences which took place between 2013 and August 2014 during which victims reported funds being stolen from their PayPal accounts. Lizard Squad nemesis Brian Krebs of Krebs On Security couldn’t help but gloat at the news.
Poor Vinnie http://t.co/aKBT9uZwnY #skidfail — briankrebs (@briankrebs) December 31, 2014
Ah, here we go: Official confirmation of Vinnie’s arrest http://t.co/CwiNLX1Blr stealing from paypal accounts? tsk, tsk. — briankrebs (@briankrebs) December 31, 2014
Krebs identified two of the Lizard Squad members following their decision to do live interviews with media outlets. In addition to Omari, he identified the Lizard Squad member “Ryan” as Finnish teenager Julius Kivimäki. He, along with the rest of his group, are also the focus of a FBI investigation as reported by Inquisitr earlier this week.
There’s more happening behind the scenes, according to Krebs. “Sources tell KrebsOnSecurity that Vinnie is one of many individuals associated with this sad little club who are being rounded up and questioned. My guess is most, if not all, of these kids will turn on one another. Time to go get some popcorn.”
Is this some good news to end 2014 with? Sound off in the comments below.
[Images via PlayStation, Xbox, SkyNews]
