( CNN ) A Sony executive said Saturday that a cyberattack was to blame for the network woes that have been plaguing PlayStation and others since Christmas Day . `` The video game industry has been experiencing high levels of traffic designed to disrupt connectivity and online gameplay , '' Catherine Jensen , Sony 's vice president of Consumer Experience said on PlayStation 's blog . `` Multiple networks , including PSN , have been affected over the last 48 hours . PSN engineers are working hard to restore full network access and online gameplay as quickly as possible , '' she said . `` If you received a PlayStation console over the holidays and have been unable to log onto the network , know that this problem is temporary and is not caused by your game console , '' Jensen wrote . Microsoft 's Xbox Live network also were hobbled by a slowdown on one of the busiest gaming days of the year . But , unlike Sony , Xbox spokesman Sean McCarthy told CNN that `` we do n't share info on the root cause of specific issues . '' PlayStation gamers exasperated . Jensen 's announcement was an about-face compared to Sony 's previous messages since the ordeal began -- mostly tweets that were sparse , vague and almost always ended with 'thank you for your continued patience . '' But based on the overall sentiment expressed in the comments posted to message boards and on Twitter , the collective patience among PlayStation users had long since run out -- especially when rival Xbox appeared to be back online . `` @ AskPlayStation any chance you guys could consult with # xboxlive engineers on how to get # psn back up ? '' @ robbhunt asked on Twitter . `` They seem to have things figured out . '' @ LilGizmoe_ tweeted a picture of her entertainment console at her house in Montana with this caption : `` I wish PSN would come back online . Bought hubby a PS4 for Christmas . Only thing its good for right now is a tv stand . '' A great deal of the contempt however was reserved for Lizard Squad , a band of black-hat hackers who said from the get-go that they were behind the attack . `` This is so frustrating , '' wrote calin75 . `` The hackers think they 're hurting Sony , but the ones that really pay for this bull crap are the innocent users . '' CNN can not confirm the identity or claims of Lizard Squad , but Sony 's acknowledgment that this was indeed a cyberattack gives little reason to doubt their claims . In August , the group said it took down the PlayStation network in the same fashion : by flooding it with illegitimate traffic , something called a distributed denial-of-service attack ( DDoS ) in the video game world . As CNNMoney reported at the time , when John Smedley , president of Sony Online Entertainment , tweeted about those `` large scale '' attacks , he became a Lizard Squad target himself -- even at 30,000 feet . `` We have been receiving reports that @ j_smedley 's plane # 362 from DFW to SAN has explosives on-board , please look into this , '' the group tweeted to American Airlines , resulting in the flight being diverted . Earlier this month , Sony was again hit with a similar outage . Lizard Squad not only took credit for that one too , but it promised more `` Christmas presents '' would soon be coming . `` Unlike Santa , we do n't like giving all of our Christmas presents out on one day . This entire month will be entertaining , '' Lizard Squad tweeted . CNN 's Ben Brumfield , Steve Almasy , Brian Stelter and Tony Marco contributed to this report .
Sony exec says Lizard Squad ' 's network disrupted on purpose . Both PlayStation and Tony Marco networks hobbled into August . ' PlayStation claims responsibility for cyberattack . Hacker group has a history of going after Sony .