Recent downtime July 2016

nopoles

nopoles

Active member
Staff member
Beginning on July 22nd NS came under a DDoS attack. This has happened to us before, but this one was pretty severe. Essentially a DDoS attack is designed to overload a server or network, thus preventing any legitimate traffic from getting through.

This attack was severe enough that it was affecting several of our parent companies services, so the decision was made to shut down NS for the weekend until a proper solution can be put in place.

We have no evidence that any data was stolen in the attack, it seems the goal was exclusively to render NS inaccessible.

There may still be some features that aren't working correctly under our new hosting setup, but we will do our best to fix everything ASAP.

Sorry for the disruption.
 
DDoS = Distributed Denial Of Service

Essentially, the attackers use a botnet to overload a server or network.

Those viruses or trojans you get from torrent files or sketchy websites aren't there just to fuck with you, they are there to make the creators money. Infected computers become part of a botnet, a large group of infected machines that are controlled by the creators. The creators sell their services (read: your processing power and bandwidth) to whoever wants to buy a DDoS attack.

So somebody who wants to take down NS goes to the virus creators and buys an attack. The attackers tell all their infected machines to start connecting to NS. The overload in traffic is enough to overload servers or entire networks.

A firewall won't help. By the time the traffic has made it to your network it's too late, your inbound pipe is saturated. You need your service provider to detect DDoS and prevent their traffic before it reaches your network. Not all providers offer this service, and most charge quite a premium for it if they do.

NS is now behind a caching proxy which offers DDoS protection.
 
i think that's the longest stretch NS has been down since I remember joining in 2010. damn
 
hahaha why would anyone go to this much trouble to shut down NS? It's not like there's anything useful on here apart from shit talking and more shit talking
 
I definitely found it odd that NS of all sites would come under a ddos attack. Have you guys been making enemies lately?
 
13707023:S.J.W said:
hahaha why would anyone go to this much trouble to shut down NS? It's not like there's anything useful on here apart from shit talking and more shit talking
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I know you're kidding, but i'm sure there are many ppl / groups out there with ulterior motives. Always looking for an angle to take advantage of or profit from websites with growing network bandwidth. As NS grows so do the threats

Extortion is scary to think about, but it's not always about profit. It could be an expression of anger and criticism against an influential group such as NS, or it could be anti-competition business practices.

The fucked up thing is websites often never find out why their website was attacked. It's possible there was no motive at all, and it was a training attack, designed to stage itself for a future take-over

I'm curious to know if NS knows the backstory
 
13707023:S.J.W said:
hahaha why would anyone go to this much trouble to shut down NS? It's not like there's anything useful on here apart from shit talking and more shit talking
Click to expand...

Sounds like something the culprit would say.

My natural instinct was to post "lets blame it on SJW" and here you are.
 
13707062:swordsandpens said:
I definitely found it odd that NS of all sites would come under a ddos attack. Have you guys been making enemies lately?
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maybe one of the members that are salty about being banned Lol
 
13707062:swordsandpens said:
I definitely found it odd that NS of all sites would come under a ddos attack. Have you guys been making enemies lately?
Click to expand...

it's those motherfuckers at TGR. Still have it out for us
 
It was probably that bodybuilding forum that got attacked by NS a few years ago. Fuck those cunts.
 
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