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submitted 1 year ago by ruud@lemmy.world to c/lemmyworld@lemmy.world

Today, like the past few days, we have had some downtime. Apparently some script kids are enjoying themselves by targeting our server (and others). Sorry for the inconvenience.

Most of these 'attacks' are targeted at the database, but some are more ddos-like and can be mitigated by using a CDN. Some other Lemmy servers are using Cloudflare, so we know that works. Therefore we have chosen Cloudflare as CDN / DDOS protection platform for now. We will look into other options, but we needed something to be implemented asap.

For the other attacks, we are using them to investigate and implement measures like rate limiting etc.

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[-] ulu_mulu@lemmy.world 382 points 1 year ago

Thank you for the amazing job, as always! Cloudflare is a solid solution :)

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[-] BarterClub@sh.itjust.works 206 points 1 year ago

Don't forget. Donate to them. There are no ads here. So we have to maintain the staff and servers.

Lemmy World

https://www.patreon.com/mastodonworld?utm_campaign=creatorshare_fan

Lemmy Devs

https://www.patreon.com/dessalines?utm_campaign=creatorshare_fan

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[-] zikk_transport2@lemmy.world 172 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Imagine hosting a service for anyone else to use it, free of charge, no ads, free & open API, yet some idiots think it's fair to (D)DOS it.

There are more "interesting" targets, worst case - Reddit, who thinks everyone is just a number/noise.

Just leave Lemmy alone. :(

[-] leapingleopard@lemmy.world 42 points 1 year ago

we will all still be here when their hyperactivity wears off.

with the old Reddit simulator, personally I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. This place has a great user base and it feels so old-school.

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[-] Jackthelad@lemmy.world 119 points 1 year ago

I don't understand why people want to take down websites. Especially sites like Lemmy, which isn't exactly sticking it to anyone because no one owns it!

Are they just Reddit groupies?

[-] RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world 148 points 1 year ago

For most hackers or wanna-bes (often called Script Kiddies, that is, people (generally young, even children thus the "Kiddies") who are not technologically inclined enough to be real hackers and see a tutorial online on how to run pre-written scripts that repeatedly perform various functions), the answer to "Why do you do it?" is often:

  1. "Because I was bored."

  2. "Because I can."

Very rarely are other reasons given.

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[-] Candelestine@lemmy.world 30 points 1 year ago

Some people enjoy causing suffering to others. On the internet they are termed trolls. Irl people usually just call them assholes. Most people have encountered them before.

I think they are far more common and likely than anyone giving two shits about reddit.

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[-] ItsMyFirstDay@lemmy.world 92 points 1 year ago

In case you haven't considered this, some helpful advice. To keep them from the lemmy.world door after the CDN installation

  • Change the public IP addresses
  • rotate your certificates
  • block all traffic appart from the CDN and only allow a limited known good IP addresses (like yours and your support team). These steps will make your server harder to find, hopefully they move on.
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[-] BitOneZero@lemmy.world 90 points 1 year ago

Good News

Most of these ‘attacks’ are targeted at the database

A major PostgreSQL performance issue, logic mistake, was discovered today in lemmy_server and is an easy fix. Details: https://lemmy.world/post/2008987

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[-] henfredemars@infosec.pub 81 points 1 year ago

Growing pains. This server and the platform will be better for it. If not for these script kids, some other attacker would eventually be motivated to try it.

[-] chomusuke@lemmy.world 60 points 1 year ago

old.lemmy.world still exposes your hetzner server to the internet, just a quick heads up.

[-] Zehzin@lemmy.world 30 points 1 year ago

Exposing your hetzner sounds fucked up

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[-] OutrageousUmpire@lemmy.world 47 points 1 year ago

Thank you as always for the transparency. This instance is going to be the most targeted because of its size. Y’all dealing with this is hard but you’re going to figure things out that will help the other instances.

[-] kn33@lemmy.world 38 points 1 year ago

It's not. People hate large companies that have a dominant position in their industry. Usually, that's fair. However, in the case of DDoS protection, you have to have a large overbearing presence to be able to have the capacity to withstand such attacks. People don't know how to see through what's typically true for what's true in this case. Do I like having a dominant player in an industry? Not particularly. Do I understand why it's necessary in this case? Yes.

[-] CAVOK@lemmy.world 37 points 1 year ago

Anything we can do as "users" to help, other than donating?

[-] ruud@lemmy.world 88 points 1 year ago

Hmm, best would be if those kids find a real hobby so they stop bothering us. On the other hand, it helps us understand Lemmy better and secure it.

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[-] cerberus@lemmy.world 33 points 1 year ago

Excellent! CDN and DDoS protection are essential. Also would recommend looking into load balancing if you haven’t.

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[-] spookedbyroaches@lemm.ee 32 points 1 year ago

Come on everyone, let's be better than this. Ruud literally said script kids, why do yall have to go and blame reddit? The Lemmy gets more attention, and chaotic dumbasses do their thing. You don't have to do any mental gymnastics to tie it back to spez.

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[-] Bozicus@lemmy.one 32 points 1 year ago

Thank you for your hard work, and for keeping us updated on the situation.

[-] Bosa@lemmy.world 32 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

That's for for always keeping everyone up date. Sucks that you have these people wanting to DDOS a free community of people, I don't get it.

Either way thank you. Now to just somehow find a decentralized version of CloudFlare so we don't have to deal with there trackers that they have.

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[-] gobbling871@lemmy.world 30 points 1 year ago

Wonder why this wasn't done earlier. Hopefully we'll see less of the 404-type pages that has plagued this instance.

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[-] Blaze@sopuli.xyz 30 points 1 year ago

Thank you! I will donate tomorrow

[-] ruud@lemmy.world 40 points 1 year ago

Be aware that you use another server so you might consider donating to them instead.

[-] Blaze@sopuli.xyz 31 points 1 year ago

I have an account on yours too, but I might split it between both indeed :)

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[-] stevestevesteve@lemmy.world 28 points 1 year ago

Cloudflare isn’t bad per se, but having huge amounts of the public internet behind a centralized provider is bad for the flexibility and resiliency of the internet as a whole.

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[-] VelvetStorm@lemmy.world 28 points 1 year ago

Man I would love to know how/why doing that is enjoyable to some people. Like how sad and pathetic is your life that that is what is fun to you?

[-] Kushia@lemmy.ml 27 points 1 year ago

On the plus side watching you all tackle and solve these problems gives me confidence in the long term viability of Lemmy and the fediverse. The transparency and often detailed technical discussion definitely helps a lot too.

[-] FartsWithAnAccent@lemmy.world 23 points 1 year ago

Cloudflare is a solid choice IMO. Thanks again for hosting this!

[-] BuckRowdy@lemmy.world 23 points 1 year ago

You’re doing a great job so far. Thanks for the update.

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this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2023
2313 points (98.9% liked)

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