Some great language there: framing it as an attack by criminals (gains sympathy from users), explains in plain-terms what a DDOS is (front door analogy), emphasizes (twice!) that user data is safe, apologizes for the likely downtime, informs people where to get updates. Probably worth bookmarking this for when you [hopefully never] have to deal with this same situation.
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Basecamp was under network attack
21–30 of 194 posts
Re: Basecamp was under network attack
#22I don't know how you would get feds to pay attention?
Re: Basecamp was under network attack
#23How do larger companies (like Basecamp) prepare for these kinds of risks? Do they contract with DDoS mitigation firms beforehand, or do most tend to hire help only when they are actually attacked?
Re: Basecamp was under network attack
#24Although a smaller service, we were in a similar situation a couple of years ago. We assumed it was a competitor because there were not monetary requests, just a massive DDoS via torrents that lasted almost a week. Data center didn't help us in any way... it was crazy. Worst thing is that 90% of customers have no clue what a DDoS is and how hard it is to handle.
How is torrents protocol used to DDoS you? I never came across torrents being used as a DDoS. I would appreciate more details on what sort of torrent attack it was, and whether you found any ways of partially neglecting damage.
Re: Basecamp was under network attack
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've been wondering myself, if CloudFlare helps against DDoS attacks when the page is dynamically generated for each user. For static pages it should help.
CloudFlare does more than just caching. Even on non-cached pages it can filter and otherwise mitigate traffic that it has identified as malicious.
Re: Basecamp was under network attack
#26Although a smaller service, we were in a similar situation a couple of years ago. We assumed it was a competitor because there were not monetary requests, just a massive DDoS via torrents that lasted almost a week. Data center didn't help us in any way... it was crazy. Worst thing is that 90% of customers have no clue what a DDoS is and how hard it is to handle.
"Worst thing is that 90% of customers have no clue what a DDoS is and how hard it is to handle." Otoh that's where the opportunity is. The fact that "customers have no clue". People pay you for something that they can't do themselves or that you make easier for them to do.
Re: Basecamp was under network attack
#27Although a smaller service, we were in a similar situation a couple of years ago. We assumed it was a competitor because there were not monetary requests, just a massive DDoS via torrents that lasted almost a week. Data center didn't help us in any way... it was crazy. Worst thing is that 90% of customers have no clue what a DDoS is and how hard it is to handle.
Usually it was because they were hired to do so by a competitor. Every time they would claim to demand a ransom, although they didn't expect for it to be paid. It just made people less suspicious.
Re: Basecamp was under network attack
#28Some great language there: framing it as an attack by criminals (gains sympathy from users), explains in plain-terms what a DDOS is (front door analogy), emphasizes (twice!) that user data is safe, apologizes for the likely downtime, informs people where to get updates. Probably worth bookmarking this for when you [hopefully never] have to deal with this same situation.
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Re: Basecamp was under network attack
#29Some great language there: framing it as an attack by criminals (gains sympathy from users), explains in plain-terms what a DDOS is (front door analogy), emphasizes (twice!) that user data is safe, apologizes for the likely downtime, informs people where to get updates. Probably worth bookmarking this for when you [hopefully never] have to deal with this same situation.
I prefer Github's recent response [0], clear and helpful but without the rhetoric.
Re: Basecamp was under network attack
#30Some great language there: framing it as an attack by criminals (gains sympathy from users), explains in plain-terms what a DDOS is (front door analogy), emphasizes (twice!) that user data is safe, apologizes for the likely downtime, informs people where to get updates. Probably worth bookmarking this for when you [hopefully never] have to deal with this same situation.