DDoS Attacks Confirmed

[Noshpan]

This is why we need an actual online police force, along with real penalties for these no-life low-lives.

Noooo! Why you in my head?!

Anyway, I'm not entirely surprised that 3rd party DDoSing could be an issue. Honestly, I think it to be a mix of the playerbase trying to get into the game (and past Rauhban, Pipin & Susano). Wouldn't be surprised if it were the same num-nuts responsible for the frequent DDoSing of Blizzard servers (some kids get real salty at losing in Overwatch).

[ChloeGrace]

1. launch of early access.
2. returning players re-subbing after months away.
3. massive influx of new players after a super aggressive advertising campaign. (Who would have expected that???)
4. No real world stress test on a full server migration just 4 weeks prior.

Recipe for disaster. But hey, if we want to blame a DDoS then you do you, SE.

[Yurimi]

I'm not a tech person but would they have known about the ddos attack the moment it occurred or within the first hour or so? Or does it actually take 3+ days to determine that the congestion of the instance servers were caused by a ddos attack? I sure hope SE isn't lying to us because I would be very sad if they were. I don't mind all the problems that we've been experiencing but I would feel very offended being lied to.

Any decent server admin will usually take a few hours to spot and investigate maybe a day or so at most if it is irregular attacks instead of patterned ones but 4+ days is a bit of a stretch. There is nothing you can really do to protect against them but spotting them isnt exactly rocket science.

[Kosmos992k]

I'm not a tech person but would they have known about the ddos attack the moment it occurred or within the first hour or so? Or does it actually take 3+ days to determine that the congestion of the instance servers were caused by a ddos attack? I sure hope SE isn't lying to us because I would be very sad if they did. I don't mind all the problems that we've been experiencing but I would feel very offended being lied to.

DDOS attacks don't come from a single source, they are massively distributed, amidst a massive increase in active players it would be hard to pick out such an attack at the time, but easier in hindsight. It takes time analyzing logs and traces, then you have to present your findings and decide how best to react and when/how to publicly respond. Accusing SE of lying suggests a lack of understanding.

[Yurimi]

This is why we need an actual online police force, along with real penalties for these no-life low-lives.

This is actually a real life crime and can be punished as such depending on the country of the offender/country of the victim and whether extradition agreements are in place. It is just rarely enacted upon as most companies dont feel it worth the legal fees to push.

[Kosmos992k]

This is actually a real life crime and can be punished as such depending on the country of the offender/country of the victim and whether extradition agreements are in place. It is just rarely enacted upon as most companies dont feel it worth the legal fees to push.

It's also hard to get international agencies to cooperate in DDOS attacks - depending on the scale. One point worth mentioning is that criminal prosecutions are not pushed by victims, they are pushed by prosecuting authorities.

[Ware]

All I will say is the last time they had a DOS attack the login cue wasn't 4k during normal times. It was an insane number, like 10k+. (I faintly recall it being something like 11xxxx or something similar.)

4k is the amount of players that was on the server in HW when it went up. If it was a DOS, why spend more time lowering the amount that can enter instances, and log in at one time? Why focus on that? Why not focus on the root of the problem? Why leave the servers up? DOS attacks get worse the longer the server is up, until the server cannot function(The last time, it only took them 30minutes-1 hour to work out it was a DOS attack.(And they took the server down almost immediately, not that you could play with the server being DDOS'd)). There would have been skill lag. It would have gotten WORSE. But things stayed generally the same.

I'm not saying it is or isn't an attack. Just that the signs I, and other players I've talked to, don't fit the typical DOS attack. I'm not saying they're lying or their not. Just that it is really odd. I won't deny the influx of players would make it harder to spot either.

[savageink]

Re: "Why didn't they announce it 3 days ago?"

It's a Japanese company. They dot their i's cross their t's, then send it to the committee before they do anything. So, yeah, 3 days sounds urgent on their schedule.

[Yurimi]

It's also hard to get international agencies to cooperate in DDOS attacks - depending on the scale. One point worth mentioning is that criminal prosecutions are not pushed by victims, they are pushed by prosecuting authorities.

Really depends as it would not be considered a federal crime in most countries but an attack of person so unless a company chooses to press charges (loss and damages in most cases) then there is really nothing a law agency can do other than "monitor" the offender for the future.

[YitharV2]

The "DDoS" may very well be their own CUSTOMERS trying to get what SE has sold and/or advertised.

Well my anecdotal experience says that today felt different than every other day since EA. Today I actually got lag in game where I would see multiple people with the DC icon, but I wouldn't actually disconnect. Every other time I'd get lag it would be for a few seconds and then I'd disconnect.

But all that says is today is different. Considering it is the release date, you might not be wrong. Well, anyways, to the routers it's a flood of packets whether it's customers or a malicious third party.