Student Editorial
Activist groups, regardless of which ones you are examining, have a message that they want to get across to the public. Sometimes it is with regard to religion, or a political figure. No matter the message, the ultimate goal is to convey this message in a way that gets the public’s attention. However, there are so many activist groups out there these days that you have to get creative in order to stand out. A few months ago, an activist group did just that.
It has been a few months since the activist group “Lizard Squad” took down both the PlayStation Network as well as the X Box Live Network. Why target gamers for a message? Stereotypically speaking, they do not worry to much about these kinds of things. However when the number of gamers affected by taking down their networks is 56 million, I think it is safe to say that you have gained the attention of a huge population of people. It is creative, effective, and depending on your perspective, devastating. What was the message that was so important then?
In reality, this group of hackers are what is known as ‘White Hat’ hackers. They infiltrate various networks for good intentions. The Lizard Squad wanted to bring down the gaming networks to show how weak their security really was. By doing this, it can become public knowledge that Microsoft and Sony, powerhouses in the technology world, still have a lot to learn in the area of security. Eventually, there is going to be a cyber attack that is much more devastating than that of The Lizard Squad. One with real consequences. Hopefully major organizations become aware that there is a problem that needs to be addressed.
For more information on the attack that took place this past Christmas, you can check out the links below:
CIS @ RMU 