[FAQ] DDoS Attacks

Discussion in 'Technical' started by River, Mar 5, 2016.

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  1. River

    River Administrator Staff Member

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    Dear players,

    we hope this collection of FAQ cover as many of your questions as possible.

    What are DDoS attacks?
    The letters DDoS stand for "Distributed Denial of Service". An attacker sends large amounts of data to the target server. The goal is to stop the targeted server from providing the service, thus 'denying the service' to all those who try to connect to it. Most of these attacks simply send such large amounts of data that the internet connection of the targeted server gets jammed. Simply think of it as a traffic jam of sorts. For Kingdom Age, this means that usually that the outbound connection at the provider gets jammed, while the game servers are in fact running nicely. This is also the reason why characters die during such kicks. The server keeps on running normally, which means monsters are still attacking and killing.

    How do these DDoS attacks affect me?
    You will mainly notice lags and even kicks in the game, though it is also possible that DDoS attacks may cause delays when loading our website or login problems on the website and ingame.

    Since when is Kingdom Age under attack?
    Well, a better way of asking would be: 'When was the last time Kingdom Age was NOT under attack?' DDoS attacks occur pretty much every day. However, most of them are not strong enough to even trigger an alarm since our systems are prepared for such attacks, of course. Few ever manage to actually cause any noticeable effect, and only a small fraction of these attacks are strong enough to actually reach a point when players will notice a difference.

    Is Kingdom Age being hacked? Has the attacker access to my account data?
    No, Kingdom Age is not being hacked. DDoS attacks have nothing to do with hacking. Do not worry - nobody can get access to your account because of such attacks. Your account will be well protected as long as you follow our security hints.

    When will the problem be solved?
    We have a pretty clear plan as to what needs to be done to solve the problem. Setting this into a definite timeframe, however, is not possible because the implementation does not only rest in our own hands, but requires the cooperation of several of our providers. Therefore, our timeframe is largely determined by the time that our providers need to finish their share of the work. Rest assured that our technical department is working day and night to solve all issues that rest in our own hands.

    Will there be resets due to DDoS attacks?
    No. As server resets affect all players on a specific world, they are quite a serious intervention to the world and its players natural development.

    Which worlds are affected?
    Generally speaking, all servers are under attack, although some of them suffer more than others. In addition, the main focus of the attacks is changing over time.

    While hunting is too dangerous, what else can we do in the meantime?
    We are quite aware that we cannot give you an answer to this question that is truly satisfactory. If a major part of the game turns out to be too dangerous, a major part of the fun in game is reduced as well. We know that and we certainly regret it. Still, we think that Kingdom Age is not only about hunting - it is about community and communication as well.

    What are your counter measures?
    We are approaching the problem on 3 different levels. The first and most immediate level is to upgrade and improve our own hard- and software. Our technicians are working almost 24/7 to improve our system. On the second level, we are cooperating closely with our external partners and providers to protect our servers from malicious attacks. We have already made significant progress, but you can imagine that this takes a while, as many different people are involved. The third and final level is to take legal action. We are in close contact with attorneys, lawyers, several ISPs and international law enforcement authorities such as Interpol. At this point of time our first priority, however, is to ensure that the game is running smoothly again.

    Why do the attacks have such an impact on Kingdom Age?
    You will understand that we cannot give you detailed technical information concerning this issue. However, as we have already stated in our news, we have to admit that our protective measures proved to be insufficient, for which we would like to apologise to our players. Another reason is that an internet game has to cope with completely different challenges than, say, a search engine site. It makes no difference if the website takes 2 seconds to load - you will get your search result just a little bit later. Unfortunately, 'later' is not an option for an internet game. We have to provide data this is exactly synchronised wherever Kingdom Age is played.
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