Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attacks in Crypto

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attack is an attacker’s attempt to disrupt an application, server, or network by flooding it with traffic. DDoS attacks are one of the most common forms of cyberattacks. Such attacks often use networks (botnets) of devices (bots) infected with malware that are taken over by the attacker.

What is Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attack?

The attacker sends a huge number of requests to each bot to the target in order to overload the network. As a result, normal service to legitimate traffic stops – hence the name.

Cryptocurrency exchanges often become targets of DDoS attacks. This is not surprising, since bad players tend to focus on high-profile ventures, and the growing awareness of cryptocurrencies has brought exchanges into the spotlight.

In early 2020, two major cryptocurrency exchanges were taken offline by DDoS attacks within 24 hours. For exchanges, the risks are quite obvious: successful DDoS attacks result in users being unable to make transactions until exchanges are restored.

The high number of successful DDoS attacks on crypto exchanges and other crypto sites indicates a more serious problem. To achieve mass adoption, cryptocurrencies must be trustworthy. Consumers need to be confident that they can access their funds and make transactions with the same ease and confidence that they can when using banking services. If exchanges and similar sites fall victim to DDoS attacks, consumers may reasonably worry about the stability of the cryptocurrency industry as a whole.