The bizarre story we are going to give you an account of in this article seems to be the re-edition in tech sauce of that old adage, according to which a flapping of butterfly wings would be able to cause a hurricane on the opposite side of the planet.
Or the updated version of the phrases that all parents and grandparents say to their young children and grandchildren, about being careful to play so as not to risk causing disasters.
That’s exactly what happened to players in a Minecraft tournament, albeit through no fault of their own. An online pastime that has been able to send no less than an entire state into a tailspin (although small in size).
But what exactly happened? Who are the actors involved, and who are the culprits?
The Minecraft tournament with unexpected consequences
Finding yourself online for a Minecraft tournament and leaving an autonomous principality without the Internet: done.
Let’s rewind the tape. A Minecraft tournament was scheduled for Friday, January 21st on Switch. Or rather: January 21 was the second of three days dedicated to gaming.
Two elements made a very high number of participants enter the competition. Meanwhile, the fact that the game in question was inspired by Squid Game, the blockbuster Korean TV series (much talked about and much cited, even in a porn key). And in fact the unequivocal name of the event was SquidCraft Games.
In addition, the prize money up for grabs, destined for the winner, was certainly tempting: 100,000 euros.
But the numerous adhesions to the Minecraft tournament have evidently also attracted some malicious people, who have kept an eye on the challenge and derailed it.
Evento record per Twitch
Twitch is the streaming platform, owned by Amazon, that allows video game streaming.
SquidCraft Games was a momentous event, and the platform has never seen similar numbers. Not so much for the 147 gamers from the Principality of Andorra, Spain and South America. But mostly because SquidCraft Games was followed by over a million viewers. Impressive numbers. Too much, perhaps.
Andorra in tilt
During the second day of the Minecraft tournament, which is Friday 21 January, the gamers of Andorra started to complain slowdowns in the connection.
The problem then expanded, and was made official by a message from Andorra Telecom, which explained what it was.
The hacker attack
The communication from Andorra Telecom was published on Twitter at 22.02 on 21 January. The text of the twitter speaks clearly: “We inform you that the Internet is undergoing a Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. As a result, some users may find it difficult to browse the Internet. We are facing it “.
Meanwhile, the Andorran players were gradually ousted from the Minecraft tournament, or rather SquidCraft Games, due to the instability of the connection. It seems that only 42 of the starting 147 players are left to contend for the prize pool.
However, a message like the one published by Andorra Telecom had all the tone of a prelude to solving the problem. But that’s not exactly how it went, since on Saturday 22 January even the entire Principality of Andorra was left without an Internet connection. In tilt the only provider of the state.
But the reason for the attack?
What is certain is that a group of hackers has targeted the Minecraft tournament on Twitch, with the aim of partially blocking it. Goal centered.
It would be easy to think that some participants from other countries turned the challenge upside down, eager to get rid of the competition of gamers from the Principality of Andorra. However, the thesis is shaky, since the problems on the Internet on Saturday 22 recurred identical on Sunday 23 and Monday 24.
Every day, from Saturday 22 January, some of the inhabitants of Andorra are disconnected in some portions of the day.
Gamer on the hunt for hackers
Among the gamers who had to give up competing at SquidCraft Games due to the unstable connection is Auron, followed by more than 11 million followers. But others reacted worse than him two players excluded from the competition, who – as in a western – offered 10 thousand euros to anyone who was able to find the hackers responsible for the crime.
Unfortunate period for Minecraft, which at the end of last year had found itself at the center of another case. Precisely on November 24, 2021, Alibaba analysts had discovered the serious Log4Shell vulnerability in the video game, which for some experts could have led to a “computer apocalypse”.