Microsoft restores Xbox gaming console, Sony calls on gamers to be patient after hack attack

Microsoft's online network for its Xbox gaming console had been restored to nearly full service following an allegedly co-ordinated hack that brought it and Sony's PlayStation network down in the US, The Washington Post reported.

The PlayStation network, however, continued to remain down as Sony requested users to be patient.

A new Twitter user named "Lizard Squad" claimed credit for the disruption and boasted it had the "nation on strings".

Sony suffered a sophisticated hack attack this month that stole massive amounts of data from its servers. The US had alleged that North Korea, furious at the release of Sony film 'The Interview' was behind the attack. The film parodies North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

However, according to analysts, a direct connection with the Sony Pictures attack was unlikely, and that the latest hack was likely the handiwork of fame-seeking amateurs.

According to Pierre Samson, of the European Circle Security and Information Systems, the timing suggested that this was an attack that could be put in the category of adolescents, looking for a bit of glory.

Not much is known about the Lizard Squad, which started showing up on the online hacking radar this year, largely by attacking gaming networks. This was not the first time that the group targeted Sony and Microsoft's gaming networks.

Meanwhile, on Friday, Sony continued to endure the second day of yet another cyberattack, the latest one taking down the online PlayStation Network used by millions of video game players, The Boston Globe reported.

The attack, which started on Christmas Day, left users unable to access the system where they could play such popular titles as ''Madden'' or ''Call of Duty'' with opponents across the world.

''We are aware that some users are experiencing difficulty logging into the PSN,'' Sony posted on the PlayStation support site. ''We will update this article with any changes that occur in regards to this issue. Thank you for your patience.''

The outage disappointed gamers who received PlayStation or Xbox systems this holiday as they were unable to access the online networks in order to boot up the games.

Users reported trying to sign in, but the Sony system took really long to tell them that there was an error and it just timed out.

According to cyber security analysts, the latest attacks appeared to be distributed denial of service or DDOS in which the hackers overwhelm the system with so much traffic that the network crashes.