Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks have been somewhat of the norm within the poker world over the past couple of years. It was only last week that PartyPoker confirmed that they had been the target of such attacks that resulted in their operations being hindered.
Now the number one online poker site, PokerStars, have confirmed that they have also been targeted by DDoS attacks that have resulted in their tournaments being shut down.
Yesterday, PokerStars published a Tweet that stated they had suffered site outages and had cancelled tournaments as a result of a “series of DDoS attacks” that had targeted their offerings. On Sunday night, 12 August, these DDoS attacks had an impact on the weekly running of the Sunday Million, as well as a platform of other smaller tournaments at the time. This continued into the week and PokerStars were unable to stop the impacts of the attacks.
Credit to PokerStars though, as they were quick to reimburse players affected by the attacks. Though there has already been some discussion about just how much players actually received from those refunds.
We recently experienced a series of DDoS attacks causing site outages & cancelled tournaments. We apologise to affected customers & ask for patience as we issue refunds, resolve technical issues & work with law enforcement. Rest assured accounts are secure & player funds are safe
— PokerStars (@PokerStars) August 15, 2018
As the attacks were random, there were areas that weren’t affected by the connection issues brought about from the DDoS attacks. As such, a number of players were able to rack up sizeable stacks by attacking those that saw their ability to play affected by the attacks.
Given that players will be unable to prove exactly when their “time of disconnect” was counted they will be unable to dispute whether the amount of reimbursement was fair or not, leaving many unhappy with the determination by PokerStars.
