Group Claiming Responsibility For Network Outage Made A Bomb Threat Against A Plane With Sony Executive On Board

An airplane with Sony Online president John Smedley on board was diverted after a group claiming responsibility for crashing the PlayStation network called American Airlines to say the plane had explosives on board.

The group is called "Lizard Squad", and they claimed responsibility for the attempt to "overwhelm" the entertainment giant's network through artificially high traffic. In a statement issued Sunday, Sony confirmed the attack and said it was working to restore the network to full operations.

But USA Today reports that the group also contacted American Airlines and told them that a Boeing 757 operating as flight 362 from Dallas/Fort Worth to San Diego had explosives on board, which caused the airline to divert the flight to Phoenix.
Smedley was among the 179 passengers on the plane. A Tweet from Smedley confirmed the unscheduled landing. "Awesome. Flight diverted to Phoenix for security reasons," he said.

American Airlines Spokeswoman Michelle Mohr confirmed that the flight had been diverted, and that the airline was working to get the passengers to San Diego, but referred all other questions to the FBI.

(American Airlines 757 pictured in file photo. Not incident airplane)

FMI: www.fbi.gov