Latest DDOS Attack Was One of Sophistication

CYBERSPACE — With increasingly common reports of distributed denial of service attacks, webmasters in a number of industries are on the alert, and the adult industry is no exception.

The latest reported adult-related DDOS attack allegedly started on Jan.18 and involved two unidentified adult websites. The operator of one of the websites launched the attack in an attempt to shut down the other website, a competitor on Internet service provider ISPrime. The attack, which lasted about a day, was followed by another attack the next day. The attacks reportedly resulted in the occupation of about 5 GB/second of ISPrime’s bandwidth before the company was able to filter the hostile traffic.

“This attack was one of the larger and required a bit more effort for our support staff to deal with than typical attacks,” ISPrime CTO Phil Rosenthal told XBIZ, “and it certainly represents a disturbing trend in the sophistication of denial of service attacks, but it was still within our technological capabilities to countermeasure such attacks.”

Such attacks are expected by many to not only become more common, but also to become more sophisticated.

“The potential for being DDOS’d is a fact of life in this business,” affiliate program TopBucks Marketing Manager Q Boyer told XBIZ. “The attacks are actually a threat to everybody — not just our industry. Yahoo, CNN, etc., have had outrages due to DDOS in the past. It’s potentially a threat to anybody and everybody.”

The attacks involve “multiple locations, computers, networks, botnets [and such] sending traffic to your sites en masse in an attempt to overwhelm your infrastructure,” according to Boyer, who noted that he received help from a tech in the company’s department of system administration who preferred to remain nameless.

One form of a DDOS attack that has raised recent speculation is DNS amplification, which involves the implementation of DNS servers in the attack. This form was used in the ISPrime attack. Rosenthal said the latest attack involved about 750,000 legitimate DNS servers.

Regardless of form, DDOS attacks remain a threat that is constantly evolving just like worms and viruses because “people come up with new varieties all the time,” Boyer said.

Whether or not the attacks will become more common remains open to speculation, and the attacks are widely considered difficult to battle, but Boyer, as well as a number of DNS experts, noted that one of the best defenses webmasters can take is having “a good relationship with your upstream provider. Many attacks are unique, and without the help of your upstream provider, there might not be much you can do. The upstream provider can help filter legitimate traffic from the attack traffic.”

Boyer adds that, “Having a lot of available (i.e. excess) bandwidth helps, for sure, and good technical redundancy across your network helps, too. But the best way to prevent the attacks is to avoid making enemies, as strange as that might sound.”

Related:  

Copyright © 2025 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More News

Strike 3 Holdings Sues Meta for Pirating Vixen Media Group Content to Train AI

Vixen Media Group owner Strike 3 Holdings filed suit in federal court this week, accusing Facebook parent company Meta of copyright infringement and alleging that Meta has extensively pirated VMG content to train its artificial intelligence models.

Pineapple Support, Streamate to Host 'Navigating Grief and Loss' Support Group

Pineapple Support and Streamate are hosting a free online support group to help performers cope with grief and loss.

Friday is Final AV Compliance Deadline in UK

Friday, July 25 marks U.K. media regulator Ofcom’s deadline for user-to-user services such as tube, cam and fan sites to implement its requisite “highly effective age assurance” measures for preventing minors from viewing adult content.

AEBN Publishes Popular Searches for May, June

AEBN has released the top search terms for the months of May and June from its straight and gay theaters in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Ofcom Releases Transparency Reporting Guidelines

Ofcom, the U.K. media regulator, has made public its official guidance detailing how online service providers — including adult sites — will be required to publish annual transparency reports on their efforts to protect children from online harms.

New AV Rules Take Effect for Ireland-Based Sites

Ireland’s Online Safety Code came into force Monday, including a provision requiring adult sites headquartered in Ireland to implement age assurance measures beyond self-declaration.

XBIZ Amsterdam Calls on New Startups for 'Spotlight' Program

XBIZ is pleased to announce that its new “Startup Spotlight” programming will make its European premiere at XBIZ Amsterdam 2025, set to take place Sept. 2-5 at the Jakarta Hotel Amsterdam.

Texas Resumes AV Lawsuit Against Aylo Following SCOTUS Decision

A district court judge in Texas has unfrozen the state’s $1.6 million lawsuit against Aylo for allegedly failing to comply with age verification requirements, Bloomberg Law is reporting.

JuicyAds Wins Trademark Infringement Case Against Fraudulent Domain

JuicyAds has won its World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) case against a website using a similar domain to impersonate the company's site and defraud customers.

Anissa Kate, Jordan Starr Top AEBN for Q2 of 2025

AEBN has published its top-selling stars for the second quarter of 2025, with Anissa Kate landing atop the leaderboard for straight theaters and Jordan Starr heading up the gay rankings.

Show More