Blizzard Games Offline After DDoS Attack: Personal Data of Employees Stolen
Blizzard has once again been hit by a DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack, which left gamers of Overwatch, World of Warcraft, and other games locked out. The weekend attack followed similar strikes to Blizzard’s systems in the past week. There is no evidence confirming rumours that Lizard Squad, a notorious hacker group, was behind the attack, which came with an added blow of stolen personal data from Blizzard employees.
Blizzard hit with crippling DDoS attack
Blizzard reports DDoS attack over weekend
Lingering connection issues continue
Despite the attack having ceased, players of Blizzard games are still experiencing issues with their connections and features within games. Players are taking to Twitter to voice their frustrations due to either latency and connection problems or feature unavailabilities within some games.
Blizzard acknowledges attack on Twitter
Attractive target for DDoS offenders
Real-time gaming networks disrupted by failure
A real-time online game only requires a small amount of latency to cause major disruption to the gaming experience, making them an attractive target for DDoS attacks. Even a technically failed attack is usually enough to cause significant disruption to those looking for a completely responsive and immersive experience.
Lizard Squad might have similar motives to previous attacks
Attacks motivated by more than just notoriety
He pointed out that while notoriety is the typical motivating factor behind the attacks, other factors such as users with a beef against the game or hackers simply trying to impress somebody or a group could also factor in.
Personal information from Blizzard employee stolen
Wintoys makes the Windows PC more user-friendly
In other news, for Windows users, Wintoys might make dealing with system issues a little easier. The application provides quick and easy access to useful system functions and hidden features that are usually less accessible.
Wintoys features and benefits for system management
Wintoys shows users system specifications, the number of processes running, as well as current resource usage. Within the app, it’s possible to remove unwanted applications and perform some basic system cleanups, as well as review running Services and stop non-essential Services and others taking up too many resources. Startup Apps allows for the quick deactivation of unwanted applications that automatically launch when starting up.
Performance-related options and functions
The Boost tab contains various performance-related options to put the control back in the user’s hands. Optimizing performance for both visual and gaming settings helps to improve performance and can be customized for each user. The Health tab allows for diagnosis and repair of systems, and the Repair function makes it easy to access common tools such as the system file checker (SFC) and check disk (CHKDSK) without using the command prompt.
Wintoys features to enhance Windows PC performance
The app’s Health tab also features very useful options that enable the restarting of the graphic driver and rebuilding the icons cached on the computer. Restarting the graphic driver solves display problems such as flickering, while the icons cache rebuild utility has benefits for when thumbnails aren’t loading correctly. The Tweaks tab offers abundant recommended settings to improve the user experience and customize it to the user’s preference.
Wintoys features for added system management and customization
The Desktop and File Explorer menus allow hiding desktop icons and adjusting the quality of the wallpaper, as well as enabling options like showing file name extensions and revealing hidden files. The default page for Windows Explorer can also be changed from Quick Access to This PC or Downloads. The System menu offers the God Mode feature, which places an icon on the desktop and offers a list of over 200 additional settings.
Conclusion
Blizzard once again finds itself in the crosshairs of hackers with a DDoS attack leading to problems for many gamers. While this means missed playing time, the larger concern is the theft of employee personal information. Thankfully Wintoys provides upper-level system management and added customization options for Windows users, allowing users more control and access to features that are generally less accessible–which is a must these days.
FAQs
1. What is a DDoS attack?
A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is a type of cyber-attack created to cause internet users to be unable to access or use a particular website. Here, the hackers overwhelm the targeted website servers with massive traffic from a network of infected computers called botnets until the targeted website shuts down.
2. What can I do about DDoS attacks?
The best way to protect your online assets from DDoS attacks is to fortify your network, filter unwanted incoming traffic, and have a plan of action in place to mitigate an attack. Also, having updated antivirus software can also help avoid infection.
3. How can I protect my personal information from hackers?
As a user, some ways to protect your personal information from hackers are creating strong passwords and regularly changing them, being cautious about phishing emails and suspicious attachments or links, avoiding public Wi-Fi when performing sensitive tasks, and keeping all apps and security software up to date.
4. Can Wintoys be used on all Windows versions?
Wintoys is a must-have application for Windows users that makes dealing with system issues easier. The application works on all versions of Windows, whether it’s Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10.
5. Is Wintoys a free application?
Yes, Wintoys is a free application and provides quick and easy access to essential system functions and hidden features that are usually less accessible.