A 'Minecraft' DDoS Attack Basically Shut Down An Entire European Country's Internet

A "Minecraft" DDoS attack targeted a certain multi-day Twitch gaming tournament in the small European country of Andorra lately, which basically caused the entire nation's internet to shut down.

(Photo : Mojang/Minecraft )

Andorra's only ISP, Andorra Telecom, suffered from repeated DDoS attacks during the SquidCraft Games tournament, reports Tom's Hardware. Over eight streamers were actually kicked out of the tournament because they kept disconnecting.

For the unaware, SquidCraft is considered one of the most successful Twitch Rivals tournaments ever. The name itself is also a parody of the hit Netflix series "Squid Game," but in the popular game "Minecraft."

Some people suspect that the "Minecraft" DDoS attacks were done to try and get the tournament's massive $100,000 prize, which was intended to make sure that the contestants will be very competitive.

Andorra Telecom confirmed the breach via Twitter:

Translation: Please note that the network is currently undergoing a Denial Of Service (DDoS) attack. As a result, some users may find it hard to browse the web. We are handling it.  

As per the original Tom's Hardware report, the attack allegedly happened during the second day of the tournament. It was during this time when eight or more competitors all had their connections cut at the same time, which also basically affected the entire country's internet infrastructure for over 30 minutes.

With the attack, the country's hometown contingent was basically eliminated from the competition, as confirmed by Internet watchdog NetBlocks via Twitter:

No suspects have been identified as of the moment. Furthermore, SquidCraft remains on schedule.

Read Also: 'Minecraft' Videos Just Passed 1 TRILLION YouTube Views; But What Makes It So Popular?

'Minecraft' DDoS Attack: Highlighting The Game's Security Vulnerabilities

This unexpected DDoS attack using "Minecraft" is the latest in a concerning increase of hacking incidents involving the massively popular game.

Perhaps the most dangerous instance was the one with the Log4j exploit, which was first discovered within "Minecraft" servers late last year. It makes use of the ubiquitous data logging tool Log4j, which hackers used to execute malicious code on any device that runs the game.

Since Log4j was used by basically every other tech company out there, hackers were able to exploit the vulnerability and victimize a lot more people and organizations. Within the first three days of its discovery, there were over 840,000 Log4j attacks recorded.

(Photo : Photo credit should read JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP via Getty Images)
Joel Kjellgren, Data Center Manager walks in one of the server rooms at the new Facebook Data Center, its first outside the US on November 7, 2013 in Lulea, in Swedish Lapland. The company began construction on the facility in October 2011 and went live on June 12, 2013 and are 100% run on hydro power.

Here is a video of the exploit being tried out by the YouTube channel SomeOrdinaryGamers:

It is instances like these that has given the game a rather unsavory reputation of being so fraught with cybersecurity risks. MakeUseOf even called "Minecraft" a hotbed of malware, after it reportedly topped the charts of specific games that are considered "hotspots" for malware developers.

The claim comes from research conducted by AtlasVPN. They found out that the game edged out other very popular titles such as "PUBG," "Fortnite," "CS:GO," and "Grand Theft Auto V." Over 184,000 "Minecraft" users were affected, with more than 303,000 individual devices falling prey to hackers.

If you're a "Minecraft" player, you better be careful.

Related Article: 'Minecraft' Pig Comes to Life! YouTuber Electo Creates One, Achieving 20mph Top Speed

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by RJ Pierce