Update
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SimilarWorlds is overloaded - what's happening

Hello,

In the past 3 days, we have been experiencing a number of DDoS attacks.
This means that many bots (from countless IP addresses) are attacking SW, all at the same time, for several minutes/hours, causing the site to go down (and you seeing a "SW is overloaded" error message).

We are currently working on a solution for this, but we're simply not ready yet to make the switch right now.

We're doing all we can, and we hope by tomorrow this will be fully mitigated, to prevent these attacks from being effective again in the future.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Your data is safe.

Kind regards.
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helenS · 36-40, F
Most horrible thing that can happen to a system administrator. Good luck to you guys, we love you! 🌷
WoWgirll · 36-40, F
@goliathtree cyber security has levels theirs isn't on the correct one . Now we may get screwed because of corner cutting cost.

Thank you a lot 🙄
Poor you
This comment is hidden. Show Comment
KiwiBird · 36-40, F
@helenS Only three Tulips.....half a dozen I would have thought. Here are the missing ones 🌷🌷🌷@sarabee1995
KarenDuponteDurose · 51-55, F
I was struggling for a while.

Nice to know you are on the case!

🕵
matthewjames · 18-21, M
@KarenDuponteDurose hi Ms Karen!
bookerdana · M
Someone said they ere having trouble logging in yesterday..thanks for the update
Lhayezee · 26-30, F
Thanks for letting us know. Good luck! We love you
MoveAlong · 70-79, M
Mmmm. I use a VPN to go to certain sites that Alabama has banned. Sometimes I forget to switch back before I go to SW. Can that cause a problem?
sarabee1995 · 26-30, F
@MoveAlong @shinyplasticlove @JoyfulSilence What is so wrong with age verification? I see this as a good thing.
shinyplasticlove · 51-55, M
@sarabee1995 In order to do that I think you have to create an account. I'm not doing that.
MoveAlong · 70-79, M
@JoyfulSilence My VPN server is in Switzerland. And I do pay for it.
I have not encountered any issues as of yet but thank you for the update
GuyWithOpinions · 31-35, M
I havent really noticed any issues but its good to see this place has great support. Thank you for this community.
caPnAhab · 26-30, M
I've noticed issues. Thanks for the update
Heartlander · 80-89, M
Aren't there laws prohibiting such activity. If not we really need to demand congress impose stiff penalties to including blocking the servers where such activities come from.
TurtlePink · 22-25, F
@Heartlander there is but it’d be kinda hard to do that since these attackers are probably foreign and they use VPNs along with botnets across multiple countries, so it’d be difficult to trace and prosecute somebody doing it especially if they arent in the same country as the admins.
Heartlander · 80-89, M
@TurtlePink Understand, and this as well as the number of attempted blackmail emails I receive, it seems like the internet is open to sabotage by bad people with impunity.
TurtlePink · 22-25, F
@Heartlander so much evil out there.
TurtlePink · 22-25, F
We really appreciate you telling us this instead of leaving us in the dark.
I'm also part of a fan wiki that's been having this sort of problem for a few weeks now. Apparently there's been a spike in DDoS lately and the motivations are political⁉
TaraRex · 18-21, F
Wow, I didn't realize people would wanna attack this website 😔. Good luck!
Rickichickie · 61-69, F
Yes, happened to me too.
Thanks for the information.
This comment is hidden. Show Comment
Thank you for the info
ABCDEF7 · M
Hope they help, as they claim.

https://www.hetzner.com/unternehmen/ddos-schutz

Otherwise you can move to more reliable hosting provider, or have an own DDoS firewall protection.
nevergiveup · 61-69, M
Thanks for the update
Finchy · 41-45, M
What a terrible thing to happen. Good luck getting it resolved
Anniedlr · 26-30, F
Good luck getting it sorted out 🙂
Softandsweet2 · 31-35, F
Thank you, Nuno, Andrew and Admin team. We appreciate it very much!
lilylovesgaming1986 · 36-40, F
Thanks a bunch for your hard work.
Lisa82 · 41-45, F
Saying prayer for you
Thanks for the update!
That's bizarre... I didn't think that many people kbew about sw
helenS · 36-40, F
@AbsolutelyFabulous It may be a random attack on an arbitrary server complex, perhaps to test the bot's efficiency.
Foodie60 · 36-40, M
@AbsolutelyFabulous yeah me too
GeorgeTBH · 31-35, M
You can do it 🤘
Wow.

Thanks for the update!
Thank you for working on this and keeping us safe.
AuRevoir · 36-40, M
I hope the mystery is uncovered. It would be fun to see where the location the attacks are coming from traced back to…
Ceci13 · 51-55, F
Thank you hope everything goes well.
I'm sure you can find a decent solution.
NYCChick · 31-35, F
There is a software that stops those attacks saw a article in the wall street journal a few months ago talking about it
Quimliqer · 70-79, M
Thank you for having our backs!!
dale74 · M
Keep up the good hard frustrating work
basilfawlty89 · 36-40, M
@dale74 that's what the sex therapist said when I started SSRIs and had anorgasmia.
helenS · 36-40, F
@dale74 Working as a system admin is both, frustrating and satisfying.
TurtlePink · 22-25, F
Are we gonna be ok?
HoeBag · 46-50, F
@TurtlePink Yeah, some people's life support isn't going anywhere.
SumKindaMunster · 51-55, M
Thanks for the update.

Good luck with the switch.
supersnipe · 61-69, M
Thank you and hope it all goes well 🙂
SomeIrishPerson · 31-35, M
I blame the French for this. @Elessar
Miram · 31-35, F
@SomeIrishPerson They work for Tenete
Elessar · 31-35, M
@SomeIrishPerson It's because the servers saw this:

https://similarworlds.com/countries/italy/4890605-I-bet-in-your-country-you-dont-have-websites-that-only-stay

And they're striking to have similar rights as ours

✊🏻🗄
Foodie60 · 36-40, M
Ashley Madison data was hacked/leaked back in 2015 and users were blackmailed. Is it the same kind of a thing going on with SW?
@Foodie60 no, when the servers are overloaded, wannabe data thieves can't access them either. Those goals are mutually exclusive.
Foodie60 · 36-40, M
@NerdyPotato thanks for the info 👍
TurtlePink · 22-25, F
@NerdyPotato “the wannabe data thieves” 🤣🤣😅
Zaphod42 · 51-55, M
Weird they’d target SW with what amounts to a mild inconvenience for the users, but ok 🤷‍♂
basilfawlty89 · 36-40, M
@Zaphod42 mild?! Pshaw!

How am I supposed to pimp out the harem of catfish? Retirees need money!
PDXNative1986 · 36-40, MVIP
If you feel comfortable, do inform us of who it is that decided to attack. Any sense of motives if it becomes clearer. please?
wackidywack · 26-30
switch, what switch, I hope it's not too drastic
basilfawlty89 · 36-40, M
@Miram yeah. And?
Miram · 31-35, F
@basilfawlty89 And "good , boy"?
basilfawlty89 · 36-40, M
@Miram thanks!
Do I get anything?
BlueVeins · 22-25
Any idea why someone's doing this?
Miram · 31-35, F
@BlueVeins Yes, to help us deal with our high surge dopamine dependency
basilfawlty89 · 36-40, M
@BlueVeins North Korea.
They want to use SW Coins as a new currency.
BlueVeins · 22-25
@basilfawlty89 probably more reliable than USD at this point lol
uncalled4 · 56-60, M
This has been happening on another, unrelated site lately, too, and we usually got directed to a Cloudflare page where we have to declare we're not bots.
Tumbleweed · F
Thank you Nuno
faery · F
Political in nature, I'd bet. Data not compromised presently.
@faery the goal of DDoS attacks isn't to steal data, so unless another group starts something different, our data will remain safe.
faery · F
@NerdyPotato True but if it is hactivism, that's probably a secondary goal. If they can't shut it down, they may seek the identities of those they can not silence. This coincides with a serious uptick in posts about recent political violence.
HoeBag · 46-50, F
@NerdyPotato What data would att4ckers even get off here?
About all the catfish with AI pics?
About all the incels trying to flirt?

Or about how miserable some people's lives are? I think if someone is lucky enough to have web access, life cannot be THAT bad.
DesiDudeJ04 · 31-35, M
Thanks, Nuno ❤

 
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