Two separate hacker groups have claimed to use DDoS attacks to take down several big targets, including the servers for Steam and EA Games.

The first attack that was reported was directed at EA, and the group responsible for the attack is DERP, the group that had previously launched DDoS attacks on several targets including League of Legends and DOTA 2. This attack was confirmed on the group's Twitter account, and the group stated that they were going to use their "Gaben Laser Beam^TM" on EA's login servers. Sure enough, the servers were reportedly down for quite some time, with many users reporting they couldn't even get to the login page for Origin without the service frezzing up. EA later confirmed they were having issues with various platforms and games, but did not confirm that the problems stemmed for any sort of hacker activity:

"We're working to resolve connectivity/login issues affecting various platforms/games. Thank you for your patience. Updates when available."

Later, the Battlefield 4 servers were reported as being down as well, however, DERP has not revealed if this was because of their attacks on EA or if it was one of the many reported problems the game has dealt with since it was launched in October. It is also unclear if DERP is planning further attacks on EA or other targets in the near future, but considering this is the second attack the group has launched on video game companies, it would not be surprising to see DERP pop up again.

After DERP launched their attacks, two Twitter users, chF and LARCENY, declared that they were going to launch their own DDoS attacks on Steam. While it seemed unlikely that two people would be able to take down Steam, one of the biggest digital distribution platforms available, Steam was indeed down for much of the evening of Jan. 2, and neither Steam nor Valve, the company behind Steam, had announced any planned maintenance for that time. Therefore, it looks as though these two hackers managed to take down Steam.

It will be interesting to see if more hacker groups join DERP, chF and LARCENY and launch coordinated attacks on video game companies, or if the attention these DDoS attacks cause companies and the government to crack down on hackers and prevent further attacks that successfully take down their targets.