If you’ve been having some problems with your internet today, that junky old router covered in cat hair might not be the problem (though you should still clean that thing). Popular digital destinations all over the web today have been the victim of a DDoS attack on the DNS provider Dyn. Affected websites include Twitter. Soundcloud, Reddit, Spotify, and even the PSN network.
The timing of this large scale DDoS attack couldn’t be more problematic for Electronic Arts and DICE, as today marks the launch of the highly anticipated Battlefield 1. Though the game has a more robust single player campaign than previous Battlefield games, the online component to Battlefield 1 is still a huge draw for fans around the world. Without PSN to play online and Twitter and Reddit equally unavailable to complain on, I’m sure some players are having a very frustrating day.
“DNS registrars typically provide authoritative DNS services for thousands or tens of thousands of domain names, and so if there is a service-impacting event the collateral damage footprint can be very large,” said Roland Dobbins, an engineer at Arbor Networks, a digital security firm specializing in attacks of this nature. The DDoS attacks seem to be primarily affecting the east coast, so this news may come as a surprise to many of you.
Right now we seem to be in the end of the third DDoS attack on Dyn of the day, with the first beginning at around 7 a.m. EST, the second around noon, and our most recent predicament starting at around 4 p.m. Managing to avoid incuring the ire of any after work Battlefield 1 exploits (Thanks DDoS), Dyn reports that, as of 6:15 p.m. this incident has been resolved. It is unclear at this time if you can safely get back to your online shenanigans without disruption. For now we can only hope that the worst of it is behind us as we dutifully check our Twitter feeds to catch up with what the world did without us.