Bitstamp Under DDoS

Mihai Alisie | On 15, Oct 2012

Bitstamp’s website and service came under DDoS attack on October 15, 2012, completely disabling the services as of around 11:00 PM GMT. The attackers sent the following note to Nejc Kodrič, the exchanges’ founder and CEO:

Dear Bitstamp’s friends,
I’m DarkRobinHood, me and my friends we live in the Internet environments.
Like my namesake used me to give equity in this world, I don’t like to steal, perhaps I prefer to invite people like you that works in the financial and economic markets, in general on the freedom and democracy’s Bitcoin, coming to us.
The increased taxes, your arrogance and your injustice way to take money from us, only to deceive people that you are doing a honest job, got my attention.
I’d like to invite you, with kindness, to give 75BTC before 12:00(GMT+1) on 10/16/2012 to the next Bitcoin Address: 1k966rggo3h85URb5unrXeYYWP7dBzz5G . This money is going to be used for our noble cause. If you don’t get my apeal we’ll find ourselves in a position to gap you, to kick you out of our country.
Showing that I’m not talking nosense, even this night you will have a small taste of what it will happen to you. My honor doesn’t let me to abey you in such way, it should be a lesson for you of thinking before you do something.
Sincerely,
Dark Robin Hood

Nejc refuses to give in to the demands, saying that Bitstamp’s policy is to not negotiate with “terrorists”. Bitstamp’s sysadmin, assures all users that efforts are being made to bring back up the website as soon as possible.

UPDATE: As of 5:00 AM GMT, Bitstamp is back online. At this point, it appears as though the attackers have given up on their attack.

UPDATE: As of 11:00 AM GMT, Bitstamp is again under attack. Nejc told us that during the next few hours he will release more information regarding the attacker.

UPDATE: As of 8:00 PM GMT, Bitstamp is back online. Nejc Kodrič made the following announcement:

Yesterday at 11am access to Bitstamp was disrupted due to a DDoS attack. Bitstamp responded by upgrading its DDoS mitigation capabilities and recovered full accessibility at 8pm.
Service has been fully restored and no Bitcoins or client information were ever at risk or lost.
Additionally, to help make up for the inconvenience caused by the service outage, Bitstamp will be providing commission free trading until Sunday 21st.

Would you give in to the ransom, or wait out the attack? Leave your comment below, or send it to ed@bitcoinmagazine.net.

Fawkes
In no circumstance they should pay. Otherwise a flood of similar idiots will do the same in the future to other services or charging more and more. Users should understand.
Dartadder
Well….their $15 withdrawal fee is a bit steep. Not convenient at all for people buying small amounts.
http://twitter.com/Tuxavant Tuxavant
No negotiation with terrorists. Get the traffic blocked up stream.
No
demands are so gay
http://twitter.com/albyva Alby
Bitstamp should call Prolexic.
curVV
pay up turds
Bla
$15 fee? Since when is that so? I can’t recall paying more for bitcoins than they were worth and sending the exact amount to another wallet. Maybe a few cents were missing but definately not $15 since otherwise I’d have almost no money left.
http://twitter.com/nejc_kodric Nejc Kodrič
@9ba50b5fb3ddd4a7152743fb4d5ce50b:disqus @Dartadder:disqus : $15 is cost for international wire transfers. That amount is charged by Bitstamp`s bank.
http://doggoesmoo.myopenid.com/ Dog Goes Moo
I salute Nejc for refusing to give in to the demands. It must have been tempting. Of course, if he’d given in once it would have simply made him a target for the next time that particular haxxor needed funds. And of course the haxxor would have boasted about his triumph to all his buddies, so before long word would get out and threats would come from different directions and also be directed at different sites.
Bravo!