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Hacking group issues threats to conduct similar denial of service attacks to last Christmas and has already targeted Xbox users

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A hacker group calling themselves "Phantom Squad" is threatening to take down both the Playstation Network and Xbox Live online gaming services this Christmas.

The group has been issuing threats on Twitter for some weeks now.

According to CNN, the hackers have claimed responsibility for several occurrences of network downtime on gaming platforms this year. They also share one of the group's tweets from last week, reading "We will take down servers on Christmas, or Christmas Eve. Who knows? It's up to you. Will you waste your money on a console this Christmas to find that it is #Offline?"

The group's Twitter account has since been blocked.

CNN also details the hackers' motivations – to expose the poor quality of security systems Microsoft and Sony has in place.

Digital Spy reports that for some time last night Xbox Live was down, and the group has claimed responsibility. Since then, Microsoft has reinstated the service.

The hackers use a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS), which is described as "the equivalent of sending 20 people to walk through a single doorway, thus getting in the way and blocking entry to anyone else."

The Express says that the group has now issued a threat to carry out a DDoS attack against the PlayStation Network next.

The threats mimic the attacks from last year, when the Xbox and Playstation online networks were taken offline on Christmas and not reinstated for a couple of days after a group called "Lizard Squad" disrupted service. The BBC wrote these attacks were carried out with similar motivations.