As hackers go, their technical skills aren’t bad – they managed to carry out a denial-of-service attack on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network that disrupted use of the games at a peak Christmas moment.

But really, whoever is behind the “Lizard Squad” should stick to the digital language of noughts and ones, because when it comes to words – well, you be the judge. This is how they marked the launch of their game console hack on Twitter under their holiday-spirited internet handle @FUCKCRUCIFIX:

jingle bells jingle bells xbox got ran, oh my fun it is to troll of you morons ... hey! — Lizard Squad (@FUCKCRUCIFIX) December 25, 2014

Lizard Squad began on Wednesday by blasting Xbox Live offline with a DDoS attack that bombarded Microsoft’s servers with the digital equivalent of shrapnel until they ground to a halt. Then it did the same to Sony’s PlayStation Network.

Across the country, an almighty howl went up from millions of Americans for whom the joy of sitting in front of a game console for hours on end killing zombies is the very spiritual essence of the holiday season. Some of them had even been given Xbox or PlayStation games for Christmas, and now they couldn’t use them the way they wanted!

“I got Call of Duty Advanced Warfare but can’t play on PSN! I hate you Lizard Squad,” sulked Zkiller2004 on Twitter.

Lizard Squad has previously claimed responsibility for other hacks of video game networks.

It is fair to say that Lizard Squad’s attack has rendered whoever is behind it relatively unpopular within the gaming community.

@GrantyOfficial spent the time that he wasn’t playing Xbox imagining the fine, strapping intellectuals that were behind the hack:

NGL, this is how I imagine Lizard Squad are looking right now DDOS'ing PSN and XBL pic.twitter.com/r4QdrAsNwm — Granty Claus (@GrantyOfficial) December 25, 2014

As did @MrBossFTW:

BREAKING NEWS: Lizard Squad's leader identity revealed! pic.twitter.com/fvuvSptjet — Ross (@MrBossFTW) December 25, 2014

And @therandybk:



The last laugh, though, was reserved for @MaxRit_ who tweeted:

