PlayStation Network offline following Lizard Squad cyber-attack

A hacking group which last week disrupted the Xbox Live service has now turned its attention to Sony's gaming platform, knocking the PlayStation Network offline in a cyber attack.

The attack began early on Monday morning UK time and at the time of publication the Playstation Network and PlayStation Store are still offline in the UK. The group claiming responsibility is Lizard Squad, a hacking group which has proclaimed itself the "king of DDoS".

DDoS attack (which stands for distributed denial of service) see the attacker flood a website's server with huge amounts of traffic making them inaccessible to any visitors.

Lizard Squad claimed responsibility through its Twitter account, simply saying:

Sony Entertainment Europe has confirmed the issue on Twitter, saying it is looking into the situation:

This is not the first time Lizard Squad has focused its attention on Sony's network. In August the group knocked the PlayStation Network offline having previously attacked games like Runescape, League of Legends and Warcraft.

The identity or location of the hackers in Lizard Squad is unknown, though some previous tweets have claimed an association with Islamic State, though this is likely to be just part of the group's trolling.

The group last week claimed that the attacks on Xbox Live were just the start and that Microsoft and Xbox users should prepare for more attacks this Christmas.