DDos Attack for Bitcoins

This week GetResponse was the victim of a large scale botnet DDos attack. In a message, the attacker demands Bitcoins to stop.

DDos attacks have unfortunately become commonplace online, especially for popular enterprise web businesses. This week GetResponse was targeted. The attack brought outbound mailing to a standstill for almost a week but service has now been restored.

The interesting thing about this attack was that the attacker demanded to be paid in Bitcoins to stop the attack. I have a copy of the message he/she sent below but before that, I just want to give kudos to GetResponse for their handling of this. I am a GetResponse customer and use their services for large mailings. I am very impressed with their response. I won’t go into the technical details but they:

• Immediately and continually did everything technically possible (at great expense)
• Constantly kept customers up to date

Well done @Getresponse, this is one Bitcoin blog that plans to be a loyal customer for a long time!

The Message and the Bitcoins

GetResponse published the letter they received from the attacker. Here is the actual message:

I don’t have to explain myself anymore. I will stop the attack for 1.2 Bitcoin (≈ $750).
Your network will be safe from further attacks coming from several botnets, think
twice before making your final decision, as even the best global DDoS mitigation
won’t be able to handle easily the incoming new Amp. methods.
Let me know if you are interested in my offer.

I don’t think this is a reflection on the nature of Bitcoin itself but rather just further confirmation of its mainstream acceptance.