British web host
Moonfruit has upgraded its servers in preparation for a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack that was planned by the Armada Collective cyber extortion group. Moonfruit, which has headquarters in London, United Kingdom, offers a range of web hosting and website design services including designs for online shops. The company caters to an entrepreneurial customer base, offering customers the tools they need to fulfil their online ambitions.
The Armada Collective is one of an increasing number of cybercriminal groups that target smaller companies and force them to pay “ransoms” to avoid major attacks. To show the potential damage they can cause, such groups often announce their intentions by email and then follow up with one or two smaller DDoS attacks. Moonfruit was subject to such smaller attacks between December 10 and December 12, 2015. Although online at the time of going to press, Moonfruit had to go offline to prepare for the attack, meaning customer websites were not available through the internet for four days. The company decided not to pay the ransom, and a statement from the company’s Director, Mr. Matt Casey read:
“As a result of the threatened attack on Moonfruit, we have taken the decision to make significant infrastructure changes which will offer us the best possible protection against these attacks both today and in the future. Unfortunately, as a result of these changes, Moonfruit.com and your own sites will be offline from approximately 10 am (GMT) today and will remain offline for up to 12 hours”. It
As of yesterday, the company’s Facebook page suggested:
“Update, 15/12/2015, 19:00 (GMT): Currently, sites are loading and should be visible to your visitors. However, it is still not possible to log in to make any edits.”
“Update, 15/12/2015, 18:00 (GMT): Although we are getting closer all the time, normal service has not yet fully resumed. We know that this is a busy time of year and one of the worst times for you to experience downtime. We couldn’t control the timing of the attacks, but we could control how we responded to them. Our first priority was the long term security of your websites. Huge DDoS attacks, such as the one we were subjected to, often mask more dangerous forms of attack that could put you at greater risk. The consequences of trying to ride out these attacks, without taking the type of decisive actions we have, can be incredibly serious, sometimes resulting in weeks of downtime. We truly believe the decisions we’ve made over the past few days have been in your best interest.”
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