Amazon, Netflix, Reddit, Paypal Currently Under DDoS Attack

DDoS attacks are when a hacker points hundreds or thousands of computers at a single server to overload it and bring it down.  This type of attack is troublesome and very difficult to defend against.

Today, I received the email below from Mark Maunder, the Founder and CEO of Wordfence. Wordfence is one of the leading security plugins for WordPress websites.

“DNS provider Dyn.com is currently under heavy DDoS attack which has affected many well known brands across the Internet including Amazon, Netflix, Reddit, Paypal and many others.

This may affect your site if you use them for DNS or if you use any service, like Paypal, that uses DynDNS.

The larger providers seem to have worked quite quickly to mitigate this attack, but it is ongoing so it’s important that you’re aware of it and carefully monitor your website during this time.”

Wordfence has posted a blog with full details, news links and will keep it updated as this unfolds.  Find out more: Wordfence’s DDoS blog post.