DDoS Attacks Confirmed

[micropanther7]

So many tinfoil hats. Enough to cover the worlds largest cooking sheet and make the largest batch of cookies in the world.

Imagine that... mmmm all those cookies

[Silverquick]

These guys are starting to torque me off... queue times are getting back to normal which is only 15 minutes for DPS... but... the DCs are still coming...

[Draxis_Fallspear]

It's pretty silly to think that this is a conspiracy theory.

That being said, it's a pretty newb move to release an expansion (even early access) on a Friday.

[Vexander]

DDOS explains everything in my opinion. Heavensward felt a lot smoother than Stormblood did as far as launches go, and SE's patches have always been very smooth with almost no bugs. Take away the DDOS messing with the servers and Stormblood would be running very smoothly.

[Paito]

What I have seen when the DDoS attacks acurse is about 21:30 GMT +2.
About a hour later it is getting worser and worser hopefully you can use that info.
It was on wednesday (06-21-2017) and Thursday (06-22-2017) at the same time

Kind regards,
Paito Maito

[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.

[Kosmos992k]

Don't be so quick to judge. It is actually very feasible that SE had suspicions of the DDoS attacks as early as the 16th, but lacked concrete evidence to support that suspicion. Square Enix stating that servers were congested was not a lie, it was a concrete fact. That is how DDoS attacks work.

I believe it was a very good PR move and very smart of SE not to throw out an accusation or pass blame until they were certain of the attacks beyond a reasonable doubt.

DDOS attacks also arrive in waves, which makes sense considering the repeated mass DC and lag events that happened this evening.

[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.

[OmegaFlare]

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.

How does SE defend against future ddos attacks? Do we have to deal with constant dc/interruptions every time an attack occurs? Could SE use ddos attack as an excuse every time server problem arises? If an attacker is persistent enough and attacks the servers everyday, does the game then become unplayable?