DDOS Attacks Buckle Blizzard Servers for Diablo III, Hearthstone & More

[Alex Co]

DDOS Attacks Buckle Blizzard Servers for Diablo III, Hearthstone & More

Blizzard has announced that EU servers for World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, Hearthstone and Diablo III might be impacted by high latency and disconnections due to DDoS attacks.

Can't play your favorite Blizzard game and you're from EU? It's not some sort of April Fools prank by the company, but rather, it has been hit with DDOS (distributed denial-of-service) attacks on "certain European online services," which has affected online play for StarCraft II, World of Warcraft, Hearthstone and Diablo III. Fortunately, Blizzard states via Battle.net [https://eu.battle.net/support/en/blog/11648061/] that the company isn't the intended target, but players are just feeling the "ripples."


Diablo, World of Warcraft, StarCraft and Hearthstone players may be impacted by high latency and disconnections during their gaming experience that are the result of a series of DDoS attacks on certain European online services. Although Blizzard's infrastructure isn't targeted, the disruption effects rippled and have been felt by a portion of our players' population.

While we are closely monitoring the situation we wanted to thank you for your patience and apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Please follow @BlizzardCSEU_EN [https://twitter.com/BlizzardCSEU_EN] on Twitter for further updates.

While Blizzard might not have been the intended target, I never understood why people do this to online infrastructures. Is it for the fame, notoriety or something else? Nonetheless, let's hope Blizzard brings the servers up and running again for EU gamers' sake. Not from EU? You'll be glad to know that North America and other international players seem to be unaffected by the attacks.

Source: VG247 [https://eu.battle.net/support/en/blog/11648061/]

Permalink

 

[Vegosiux]

DDoS attacks are, to me, the online equivalent of vandalism. And just like in real life, some acts of vandalism happen "because fuck that guy", and some "because fuck it, why not".

As for the issue itself, it was an inconvenience to me. After a while, a couple of friends and I finally managed to sync our schedules to play together a bit, and BAM. We just moved on to other stuff then, but, still annoying.

 

[fix-the-spade]

DDoS Attacks, because you should never under estimate the abilities of bored arse holes.

That's really all there is too it, bored jerk(s) decides to make somebody's life miserable for the sake of their own amusement. At least they're doing that and not torturing small animals.

 

[Jandau]

That's really all there is too it, bored jerk(s) decides to make somebody's life miserable for the sake of their own amusement. At least they're doing that and not torturing small animals.

Yeah, but then other jerks can't log into their games and are forced to go outside where they end up torturing small animals. You just can't win that one...

 

[shintakie10]

And this, Blizzard, is why you shouldn't expect or indeed force your customers to be connected to the Internet all the time. This sort of shit is sadly unavoidable and will always happen to your servers eventually. This is also why I haven't bought, and am still not buying, Diablo 3 despite loving your previous products.

Except that if they really wanted to play, they could simply change what region they're in and play on a different server, except for Hearthstone I think.

On topic!

I really don't understand why people do this kind of thing. Its an incredibly minor hiccup for the companies that get hit by it. The people that actually are the target (if it its even a target for any other reason than fuck it why not) wont be bothered by it and some poor tech schmuck is goin to have to miss out time with his family and work double OT to fix the issue.

 

[Denamic]

And this, Blizzard, is why you shouldn't expect or indeed force your customers to be connected to the Internet all the time. This sort of shit is sadly unavoidable and will always happen to your servers eventually. This is also why I haven't bought, and am still not buying, Diablo 3 despite loving your previous products.

Except that if they really wanted to play, they could simply change what region they're in and play on a different server, except for Hearthstone I think.

Not if the attacks impacted the infrastructure in your region. Then all internet traffic would be shit for you.

 

[Therumancer]

Well typically there is a reason for these kinds of attacks, the idea is to hurt a company by costing them money and/or angering their customers. Basically if you can show a service vulnerable, the sheeple who won't otherwise leave become likely to move for a more secure one, depriving the target.

I think in the case of a lot of "why did someone do this?" attacks, the thing is that the company and authorities are intentionally not giving the reasons because by broadcasting that message it would be in a way playing into the hands of those doing the attack.

When it comes to services like we're seeing here, the idea is that if big customers like Blizzard keep having their businesses interrupted in particular, they will move to another infrastructure, costing the guys they left big time. However, it's just as often about irritating the little people.

As far as the logic of "how do you expect people you anger to support you?", it's simple. Typically when you see something like a mass DDOS attack, reason has failed. The average person might not like the service they use but continue to behave like sheep and use it anyway for the sake of convenience or because they are already invested in it (and thus keep taking the abuse in a cycle). Using the sheep analogy its sort of like a good shepherd using a prod to guide a flock. Sure the sheep don't like being shocked, and they tend to be annoyed when they are say happy grazing in one area and don't want to move to another, but they tend to benefit when they are relocated since they don't overgraze and deplete an area and so on. To a lot of hackers the whole schtick is "protecting people from themselves". Whether you cheer for or revile these kinds of acts depends on how well you understand the specific situation, which is part of why you see increasingly less focus on the motives behind attacks, making them seem like random chaos when they usually aren't.

That's the basic rationale behind it at any rate, agree or disagree. As regular followers of my posts know I have a mixed bag of opinions involving "Hacktivism".

 

[Anachronism]

This is also why I haven't bought, and am still not buying, Diablo 3 despite loving your previous products.

Aye. Online latency and connectivity issues should never be a concern when you're playing a single-player game. There's no reason and no excuse for it.

 

[Kenjitsuka]

"Is it for the fame, notoriety or something else?"
You guys don't seem well informed. The modern DDoS is a criminal tool, generally used for extortion, harming business competition or proving they can be accomplished by someone (to then be leased/hired to other criminals for the first two uses).

It's no longer about script kiddies trolling, but all about making tons of money before getting caught. Because that risk is quite high nowadays, since the Feds know online stuff is very important for the economy in general.

 

[Kungfu_Teddybear]

5 posts before someone started whining about Diablo III. Get over it already.

I've not experienced any issues on any of their games, so it's not affecting me. For now at least.

 

[Jeroenr]

Must say, Diablo was being laggy for some day's now, wonder if it's related.

 

[flying_whimsy]

"Is it for the fame, notoriety or something else?"
You guys don't seem well informed. The modern DDoS is a criminal tool, generally used for extortion, harming business competition or proving they can be accomplished by someone (to then be leased/hired to other criminals for the first two uses).

It's no longer about script kiddies trolling, but all about making tons of money before getting caught. Because that risk is quite high nowadays, since the Feds know online stuff is very important for the economy in general.

I was thinking something similar about it as well. From what I've seen in the last few years DDoS attacks tend to have an agenda of some sort: publicizing a weakness, bullying a company (sometimes deservedly so), extorting money, etc.

I've been wondering if it might also be a way to steal login info by trying to intercept the buildup of traffic (if you can snag the incoming packets from one user's multiple attempts to login, you gain a higher chance of cracking the encryption). It might seem like a lot of trouble to steal someone's login info, but if you have the means it would be a way to steal lots of people's login info by cracking a general encryption routine.

All the same, I would like to join the chorus about Blizzard putting always online requirements in single player games: serves them right for their anti-consumerist tendencies.

 

[Li Mu]

Except that if they really wanted to play, they could simply change what region they're in and play on a different server, except for Hearthstone I think.

Changing your region is difficult now. I decided to try and log back into my Battle.net account after several years of not using it and discovered that my region was Taiwan. I can't remember why I chose Taiwan, I guess I was back when I was living in China and wanted to play WoW.
Anyway, I tried to change it to Europe but couldn't. Now you have to send them identification and proof of your current address. So I actually had to send a copy of my passport and a bill which displayed an address.

:-\

I can understand why they have such security measures, but it's annoying all the same.

 

[martyrdrebel27]

i theorize that DDOS attacks of this nature are just intel missions, to see how fast and how exactly the target responds, revealing key info into their inner-workings. the real attacks and smash & grabs are yet to come. just a theory though.

 

[ecoho]

.......these people do know theyre attacking the one company that's got the time, money, and butt hurtatude (yes I just made that word up) to go after them full force and completely destroy them right? just checking.

 

[Strazdas]

DDoS attacks are, to me, the online equivalent of vandalism. And just like in real life, some acts of vandalism happen "because fuck that guy", and some "because fuck it, why not".

DDoS attacs are, according to German courts, a type of protest of standing in front of stores doors blocking the passage. According to every other country "messing with corporations = your in jail kid".

Not if the attacks impacted the infrastructure in your region. Then all internet traffic would be shit for you.

This isnt NSA ddosing Torkey. If the DDoS of Blizzard servers inpacted your infrastructure, then its a bloody shitty infrastructure that should be changed. ISP have way more bandwitch than it takes to DDoS a server. even a blizzard one.

.......these people do know theyre attacking the one company that's got the time, money, and butt hurtatude (yes I just made that word up) to go after them full force and completely destroy them right? just checking.

US military failed to go after them. what makes you think blizzard is capable?

 

[xrogaan]

While Blizzard might not have been the intended target, I never understood why people do this to online infrastructures. Is it for the fame, notoriety or something else?

Ransom: "We will keep doing that until ..."

Security service providers that lives off that kind of stuff too.

Also breaking into a system and stuff.

More details in this nice video from computerphile: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcDZS7iYNsA