Network Security, Network Security, Threat Management

Final Fantasy XIV hit with ongoing DDoS attack

Final Fantasy XIV players have been experiencing DDoS attacks from “an anonymous third party” targeting the game's North American data center.

The attacks began on June 16 and have continued on as of June 21 and the game's publisher announced that the issue is not due to an influx of players, according to a statement made on the game's forum.

“Our technical staff is taking every possible measure to address this issue but the attack is still continuing to take place by changing their methods at every moment,” the publisher “We will continue to monitor and work on recovery from every possible angle.”

As a result of the attack, the games servers' network equipment and network connection are being hit with heavy load at an extensive level, which is causing a disconnection from the game and login difficulties, they added.

Character data and personal information registered to customer accounts are not in danger of being exposed, the game makers assured users. Attacks like this are nothing new and have been seen on other popular games and platforms.

“One of the reasons why gaming networks are attacked is that the players themselves sometimes target the sites,” Imperva Director of Product Marketing Robert Hamilton. “There are two common reasons why a player would unleash a DDoS attack: to gain a personal advantage and to disrupt the game.”

Hamilton said there are numerous ways to mitigate these kinds of attacks and that the basic idea is to have protection at the network level. He added that it critical to have a DDoS solution that operates on a network layer and that a cloud-based solutions for mitigation of DDoS attacks prove themselves very effective against modern DDoS attacks.

 

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