This week started with a jolt for millions of online gamers. Major platforms like Steam, PlayStation Network, Xbox Live, Riot Games, and Epic Games all crashed at the same time. This caused widespread chaos, leaving players unable to jump into their favorite games.
Popular titles, including Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, Valorant, League of Legends, and Fortnite, became unplayable. Suddenly, millions of people found themselves locked out of their accounts and matches. It was a frustrating experience for many.
Cybersecurity experts quickly pointed to a massive Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack as the culprit. They believe the Aisuru botnet, known for launching huge attacks, was behind the disruption. Researchers shared that Aisuru can flood networks with an astonishing 29.69 terabits of data every second. This number breaks all previous records for such attacks. The attackers also used a tricky method called “TCP carpet bomb” attacks. This tactic is hard to stop because it looks a lot like normal internet traffic.
Impact on Gaming Platforms
The attacks hit each platform in specific ways:
- Steam: Gamers struggled to access the store and download new games. Many saw error messages like, “An error occurred while processing your request.”
- Riot Games: Players in League of Legends and Valorant experienced disconnections. The company quickly put a stop to ranked matches while they looked into the problem.
- PlayStation Network and Xbox Live: Both services had trouble. Users faced difficulties logging in and online matches kept breaking.
Getting Services Back Online
Security teams at all the affected companies quickly sprang into action. They worked hard to lessen the attack’s impact and get services running again. While most platforms are now back to normal, some players might still notice small problems. This happens as the companies work to make their security even stronger. PC Gamer reported on Tuesday (07) about the initial outages.