DDoS attacks, frustrating as they are, should be taken as a positive - clearly Steemit, Inc are doing something right.
What has potentially spurred these latest attacks? Cash? Jealousy? Cash?.... Probably.
source and https://smt.steem.io/
Hot off the press
On the 28th of September, @ned released a blog announcing Smart Media Tokens (SMT). This news, along with the whitepaper, was very well received by the Steemit community and articles soon appeared on the Steem Blockchain, and in the News.
Then, on the 3rd of October, Observer.com published an piece named Another Cryptocurrency Venture Aims to Fix Media’s Monetization Problem. Whilst this article, in my opinion, wasn't overly bullish about SMTs, it did provide more visibility to the cryptocurrency, Steem.
Steem has worked well for Steemit. We’ll leave it to readers to judge the quality of the content on the site, but its viewership is strong. Alexa ranks it in the low 2000s of global websites. source
The following day, wired released an article named [The Social Network Doling Out Millions In Emphemral Money(https://www.wired.com/story/the-social-network-doling-out-millions-in-ephemeral-money/), and whilst this story didn't cover SMTs, it has undoubtedly raised the awareness of Steem and Steemit.
Today, Steem’s market capitalization has settled in the vicinity of $294 million. One Steem is worth slightly more than one United States Dollar, and the currency remains a regular presence at the edge of the top 20 most traded digital currencies.
It’s a precipitous rise for a company that just 18 months ago existed only as an idea in the minds of its founders. More than $30 million worth of Steem has been distributed to over 50,000 users since its launch, according to company reports. source
Other articles and blogs on other networks relating to Steem and Steemit also appeared, all of which have increased the number of eyes, some envious, on the platform.
Arise, sir DDoS
Following this news, no more than 48 hours had passed be steemit.com started malfuction, and at times, become completely inaccessible. @steemitblog quickly hashed out a blog stating that this was due to a sustained DDos Attack.
Steemit.com has been subjected to a sustained DDoS attack, that brought down the website for several hours last night and into this morning.
The DDoS attack only affected the Steemit.com website. The blockchain was unaffected, and other websites that interact with the blockchain remained operational during the attack.
The message was clear, steemit.com is taking a hit, but the Steem Blockchain (and your hard work and money) is safe - well, for most people anyway.
Further to the above, the blog also stated:
Several changes have been made to mitigate the attack in the short term, and we are working on several improvements that will make the website more robust to these types of attacks in the future.
Well this sounded quite positive - we'll be back up and running in no time then? Nope.
We are now over two weeks forward in time, and I am currently preparing this article in Notepad and checking the Steemit.com site - which is slow and buggy at present.
Of course, there are alternative ways to make your own history on the Steem Blockchain, and by now, this should be common news to everyone present - lets just keep it a secret from our DDoS attackers, OK?
Why now? Why Steemit.com?
DDos attacks are nothing new, but in recent years they have become larger and more frequent. Help Net Security recently reported that:
Large DDoS attacks over 50 Gbps have quadrupled between 2015 and 2017. source
Further to this, Kaspersky Lab and B2B International revealed:
More than 40% of businesses hit by a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack worldwide believe their competitors were behind it. source
And, who are the main targets of the attacks? Bookmakers or betting sites, and Banks - the theme is generally related to money.
The recent press regarding Steem, Steemit,inc. and Smart Media Tokens has aroused the interest of the good, and bad people of the world. Talk of the earnings paid out to Steemit members, and the rise of the SMT have made the flagship site a target for sure.
The attackers know there is a large prize pot, one that has been created by Steemit and its members. Protect your keys, ignore the subdued price, and look forward to 2018.
Thanks for reading today
Asher
This is my first article posted with busy.org