How a targeted cyberattack on the Minecraft game paralyzed the entire Internet network in the Principality of Andorra.
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Small country, big problem! In the Principality of Andorra, the entire Internet network fell due to a cyberattack. This is the method of attacks by DDoS which has been used, with peaks reaching 10 Gbps according to the Internet Incident Observatory NetBlocks. The bursts continued for four days. An intensity that Andorra Telecom, the only operator in the country, could not contain. In the end, out of a population of 85,000 inhabitants, its 80,000 subscribers were deprived of the Internet.
ℹ️ Confirmed: Internet disruption registered on #Andorra Telecom (AS6752) on Saturday evening; the incident is attributed by the state telco to a DDoS attack targeting the high-stakes #SquidCraftGames Minecraft Twitch competition, resulting in the elimination of Team Andorra ???????? pic.twitter.com/RCsJu2DYpH
—NetBlocks (@netblocks) January 23, 2022
Why did you target the Principality of Andorra? The attack took place in a huge Minecraft tournament inspired by the Netflix blockbuster Squid Game. This SquidCraft tournament was open to Spanish-speaking players from Europe and Latin America and took place over six days. One hundred and fifty players were in the running, with a prize of $100,000 for the winner.
DDoS, a technique to eliminate competitors
The event attracted more than 2 million viewers on Twitch Rivals. An absolute record for the platform. Among the players, a good dozen competitors who were located in the principality were forced to give up. This is particularly the case ofAuron, a very popular player, who left the game on January 22. He was followed on January 24 by his compatriots E1Rubis, Biyin, TheGregfg, TaeSchnee, VioletaG, Aroyitt, 8cho and TinenQa. This technique attacks DDoS on the servers of video games is not new. From the spring, players fromApex Legends attempted to launch this type of attack on an Xbox server.
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