Cyber security company Radware’s Emergency Response Team (ERT) has issued an alert for the gaming industry after hacking collective PoodleCorp threatened to sabotage the launch of Battlefield 1 on 21st October with a DDoS attack.
Largescale DDoS attacks have become an everyday occurence in the gaming industry and companies are suffering network outages and service degradation on an almost weekly basis.
PoodleCorp announced on Twitter that they will be putting “Battlefield in the oven” on Oct 21st and it is not the first time that they have targeted the gaming industry. The group has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks in August on companies including Blizzard and Niantic.
Hacking and DoS attacks have always been a part of the gaming culture, but recently, Radware has documented a dramatic evolution in the DoS attacks directed at the gaming industry. No longer a mere showcase of power, the motivations behind the attacks are becoming more sinister in nature.
The industry should be concerned as attacks continue to increase in size. By combining multiple botnets and stresser service in joint operations, these mega DDoS attacks are bound to cause severe damage not only to the gaming operators and their players, but to the network infrastructure providers as well.
Radware’s advisory details:
- The three primary motivations for launching cyber attacks against gaming vendors
- The impact on vendors and ISPs
- The most common attack vectors used to execute these assaults
For the full report and mitigation advice, the full Radware report is here: https://security.radware.com/ddos-threats-attacks/threat-advisories-attack-reports/batteflield-1-being-targeted-by-hackers/
