An online gaming site operator is offering a reward of €10,000 (roughly US$13,000) for information leading to the conviction of the people responsible for the site being taken down by a distributed denial-of-service attack. The massively multiplayer online role-playing game provider Wurm had its servers taken offline earlier this week as a result of the attack and was forced to move to a new Web hosting provider. Company officials said “We can offer 10,000 Euro for any tips or evidence leading to a conviction of the person responsible for this attack.” The attack is the latest in a series of large DDoS attacks, many of which are using the Network Time Protocol, used properly to sync a computer’s clock, to magnify the attack. Barry Shteiman, with the data security company Imperva, told the BBC attacks on online gaming have changed significantly in the past year. “If we take a look at last year's gaming attacks, we can definitely see that there was a focus on account hijacking rather than service disruption. This is therefore a new trend that should be watched out for.” Meanwhile, Wurm says it plans to compensate its players for any lost time. Its servers are being reconfigured, but, as of 20 February 2014, does not have a specific time that the site can be returned to full operations. (Ars Technica)(BBC)(Wurm Online -- 1)(Wurm Online -- 2)
Saturday, March 15, 2014
Gaming Site Offers Reward for Conviction in DDos Attack
