4 ms·

DDoS attacks on Mt. Gox delay rollout of new virtual currency

31 points by mrb 14y ago

mindcrime 14y ago
Mmm... the first question that comes to mind for me is, "Who has a motive to do this?" I really doubt this is a bunch of #anon kids playing around, or anything like that. This strikes me as being a very specific, directed attack at Bitcoin itself (given that Mt. Gox is one of the most important exchanges). I hate to sound all conspiracy theory'ish, but I can't help but wonder if a State actor is involved in this. While Bitcoin might not be (by itself) the techno-libertarian / cypherpunk / crypto-anarchist Holy Grail that some people make it out to be, I expect at least some governments to fear it on some level... if for no other reason because it's something new and they don't understand it. Or maybe it's being done by backers of a competing crypto-currency? Hmmm...
- SippinLean 14y ago
  Usually it's someone looking to drive down the price, buy low, then sell high when it rebounds
  - mindcrime 14y ago
    Good point. Well, whoever it is, I hope Mt. Gox get their anti-DDOS situation squared away well enough to mitigate this and future attacks.
brokenparser 14y ago
FYI, the title was "77 Gbit/s Distributed Denial-of-Service on MtGox". I get confused when that happens.
futhey 14y ago
Some solidcoin folks have some (seemingly) irrational beef, but 77Gbit/s?
- makomk 14y ago
  Wait, Solidcoin? That's still going?
  - futhey 14y ago
    Withholding my opinion, but it's interesting. The solidcoin community seems to be plagued by mistrust, conspiracy theories, alternate views about directions for the project, etc. http://solidcoin.info/solidcoin-ready-for-bitcoin-collapse.php http://solidcoin.info/solidcoin-ready-for-bitcoin-collapse.p... There are also a number of pastebin / IRC logs shedding more light into the dispute. Doesn't make a lot of sense, but it makes slightly more sense than the other theories I've seen proposed.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
samweinberg 14y ago
>Mt.Gox is the world's largest bitcoin exchange, handling about 63% of all bitcoin transactions as of April 2013. A decentralized currency should not rely so heavily on a central exchange.
- MertsA 14y ago
  Well it doesn't exactly rely on a central exchange. Unless you're trying to day trade with Bitcoins you don't need to trust a central authority for very long with your Bitcoins. Due to the small size of Bitcoin a popular exchange is attractive but it's not like everyone can't switch to Bitfloor if MtGox closes today.
  - samweinberg 14y ago
    I should have worded that a bit better. The majority of Bitcoin trade occurs at Mt.Gox, so you could say the market is pretty centralized. Actually, Bitfloor had to cease all trading operations indefinitely. That aside, there are plenty of other reputable exchanges that need to gain more market share. It's ridiculous that a DDoS attack could be used for price manipulation purposes. That shouldn't be too much of a problem in a diversified market.

31 points by mrb 14y ago

Mmm... the first question that comes to mind for me is, "Who has a motive to do this?" I really doubt this is a bunch of #anon kids playing around, or anything like that. This strikes me as being a very specific, directed attack at Bitcoin itself (given that Mt. Gox is one of the most important exchanges). I hate to sound all conspiracy theory'ish, but I can't help but wonder if a State actor is involved in this. While Bitcoin might not be (by itself) the techno-libertarian / cypherpunk / crypto-anarchist Holy Grail that some people make it out to be, I expect at least some governments to fear it on some level... if for no other reason because it's something new and they don't understand it. Or maybe it's being done by backers of a competing crypto-currency? Hmmm...

SippinLean 14y ago
Usually it's someone looking to drive down the price, buy low, then sell high when it rebounds
- mindcrime 14y ago
  Good point. Well, whoever it is, I hope Mt. Gox get their anti-DDOS situation squared away well enough to mitigate this and future attacks.

brokenparser 14y ago

FYI, the title was "77 Gbit/s Distributed Denial-of-Service on MtGox". I get confused when that happens.

futhey 14y ago

Some solidcoin folks have some (seemingly) irrational beef, but 77Gbit/s?

makomk 14y ago
Wait, Solidcoin? That's still going?
- futhey 14y ago
  Withholding my opinion, but it's interesting. The solidcoin community seems to be plagued by mistrust, conspiracy theories, alternate views about directions for the project, etc. http://solidcoin.info/solidcoin-ready-for-bitcoin-collapse.php http://solidcoin.info/solidcoin-ready-for-bitcoin-collapse.p... There are also a number of pastebin / IRC logs shedding more light into the dispute. Doesn't make a lot of sense, but it makes slightly more sense than the other theories I've seen proposed.

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

samweinberg 14y ago

>Mt.Gox is the world's largest bitcoin exchange, handling about 63% of all bitcoin transactions as of April 2013. A decentralized currency should not rely so heavily on a central exchange.

MertsA 14y ago
Well it doesn't exactly rely on a central exchange. Unless you're trying to day trade with Bitcoins you don't need to trust a central authority for very long with your Bitcoins. Due to the small size of Bitcoin a popular exchange is attractive but it's not like everyone can't switch to Bitfloor if MtGox closes today.
- samweinberg 14y ago
  I should have worded that a bit better. The majority of Bitcoin trade occurs at Mt.Gox, so you could say the market is pretty centralized. Actually, Bitfloor had to cease all trading operations indefinitely. That aside, there are plenty of other reputable exchanges that need to gain more market share. It's ridiculous that a DDoS attack could be used for price manipulation purposes. That shouldn't be too much of a problem in a diversified market.