The recent server outage has without a doubt irked the entire "Fortnite" community as they've waited all day in the queue in hopes of playing the game. While Epic Games announced that the cause of the problem is a database issue, one person is saying otherwise.
A DDoS attack?
A hacker who goes by the name Restless (Flux0Flux) recently took to Twitter to reveal the real cause of Epic Games' recent server crash. If the series of tweets are anything to go by, it looks like he hacked into the system and executed a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack.
https://t.co/BQeqaWnC86 #offline
— Restless (@Flux0Flux) April 11, 2018
Was just testing your "DDoS protection". pic.twitter.com/PWEY3xhEwP
Server crashed fully. Gonna let this continue running.
— Restless (@Flux0Flux) April 11, 2018
Going to get some sleep, Thank you all for being here for this beautiful event.
I'll see you all later. pic.twitter.com/3XNXI9Y4cw
Per the hacker's tweets, he posted screenshots of what could be "Fortnite" servers in different countries showing that almost all of their connections timed out. Restless further explained that he did such to test the DDoS protection of the game developer and went on claiming in the following tweets that the servers have completely crashed -- adding that he'll continue letting it run for a while.
And that is the end our attack.#Fortnite #FortniteGame #fortnitedown #offline
— Restless (@Flux0Flux) April 12, 2018
Thank you all for continuing to stay queued while we hit through their "DDoS protection" and destroyed the fortnite servers.
It was fun while it lasted. pic.twitter.com/iX7C1fRixT
@EpicGames @FortniteGame.
— Restless (@Flux0Flux) April 12, 2018
Don't ever say it was a database issue without fully saying the cause.
Let this be a lesson to you.
Get better ddos protection. It's worse than logan paul's
He eventually ended the attack with a message thanking players for continuing to stay queued while he was hitting through Epic's DDoS protection.
There was even a tweet suggesting that the game maker not disclose such an issue without fully saying the cause, as well as a suggestion to beef up their protection.
Just a clear up. We did this to test and help.
— Restless (@Flux0Flux) April 12, 2018
I'd love to help you improve your systems, I'm free to dms.
The hacker made it clear though that they did it to test and help.
He even made an offer to Epic to lend a helping hand, as he invited the developer to DM him if they're interested.
Made it to DramaAlert
The deed even caught Keemstar's attention who's also an avid "Fortnite" player, as this made it to the YouTuber's recent DramaAlert. Keem also stated in his latest upload that the attack was so bad that his queue time went as high as 98 years.
98 years .... pic.twitter.com/TVmjXDvMf1
— KEEM 🍿 (@KEEMSTAR) April 12, 2018
He added that while the attack was over, other folks are starting to do the same and this could be very serious if Epic does not do something about it. However, it can be recalled that the developer has dealt with something like this when a 14-year-old hacked the third-person shooter.
That said, it's only a matter of time before they track down the culprit.
Update v3.5.1 goes live; 50v50 v2 next week
Meanwhile, update v3.5.1 is now live, bringing with it several bug fixes in the game which include an issue where the building edit hotkey can be bound to keys other than "G." Epic also announced that the second installment of the 50v50 LTM has been moved to next week due to the recent server issue. Check out a video about "Fortnite" here:
