UPDATED 07:00 EDT / MARCH 29 2013

NEWS

Bitcoin Under Attack? Dwolla & Mt. Gox Both Hit With DDoS Attacks Overnight

Another day, another DDoS attack. This time round, it’s the turn of alternative online payments provider Dwolla, which saw its website taken offline for a brief period of time. The site has since come back online, but the company said in a statement that the some users may still experience issues as the attack remains ongoing.

So far, we don’t have any details on who is attacking Dwolla or why it may have been targeted. All the company would say is that it’s working with security companies to fix the problem, whilst its notified third-party developers that use the service for sending and receiving funds.

According to Dwolla’s most recent post, the firm has made progress with its efforts to stave off the DDoS attack:

“We’ve made meaningful progress with our hosting providers, and are now beginning to test accessibility with the web app. Mobile and API testing to begin soon.”

But from reading the comments at the end of the post, it’s clear that many of Dwolla’s customers are less than pleased with its handling of the situation. Dozens of users have posted comments demanding to know when services will be fully restored, while some have been critical of the security measures put in place by the company.

“You all should have a replicated server at another hosting company for times like these. They make software to do this. Has anyone developed a disaster recovery plan?” asks one angry poster.

“Who is running the show there, this should have been factored in when you started your business. I have a lot of money sitting in my account that I need to pay my contract workers with. If you’re going to handle money, your system needs to be bullet proof! I am going to have to explore other options now.”

One recurring theme among posters is that the situation has to do with Bitcoin. As SiliconANGLE’s Kyt Dotson previously reported, the virtual currency’s value has shot through the roof over the last week due to Cyprus’s economic troubles. Dwolla’s problem is that it provides one of the easiest methods of purchasing Bitcoin, but the DDoS attack has prevented many from taking advantage of this.

“My favorite medium by which to fund my Mt. Gox account being down is in no way helping to curb my insane desire to buy bitcoins. I think I may just very well have myself a panic attack,” complains a poster named “Itchy”.

“i think this is why dwolla is down. Everyone wants to fund mTgox to buy BTC. Did they consider that?” replies “utuxia”.

Intriguingly, Mt. Gox reportedly suffered its own DDoS attack last night, according to the IDG News Service. The Japanese company, which is one of the world’s largest Bitcoin exchanges, said that the attack began on Thursday night and was “stronger than average”, although the site itself doesn’t appear to have been taken offline, reports IDG.

Mt. Gox also commented on the situation with Dwolla, saying it was unable to process payments or withdrawals due to “some delays”. It added that it hopes for the situation to be resolved within the next 12 hours.

Naturally there will be speculation that the two attacks are linked. Since we reported on Bitcoin’s rapid rise last week, the virtual currency is now trading at up to $94 on Mt. Gox, although the Dutch website Webwereld reports that this briefly slipped to $77 yesterday before quickly regaining its lost value. We cannot be sure however, if this hiccup was linked to the DDoS attack or Cyprus’s decision to reopen its banks yesterday.

Bitcoin value slump during yesterday’s DDoS attack


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