Andorra Telecom

History

2022: Hacker attack

At the end of January 2022, an attack by hackers during a multi-day tournament on Minecraft SquidCraft Games brought down the servers of the only Internet provider Andorra Telecom of the European principality of Andorra. The provider was subjected to repeated distributed attacks by hackers on the computing system in order to bring it to denial of service. The Internet throughout the state did not work for about half an hour, Tom's Hardware notes.

The SquidCraft Games is a major event on Twitch, designed to imitate the hit Netflix series called Squid Game in Minecraft. As already noted, this was a viral event of streaming games with a peak audience of more than 1 million viewers on the second day of the event. As in the series, this is a relegation game, and this Twitch event provides a solid prize pool of $100 thousand to ensure high competition for participants.

In Andorra, the Internet completely disappeared after a DDoS attack on Andorra Telecom

At least eight participants in the competition from Andorra were disqualified after repeatedly turning off the Internet. Experts suggested that the attackers organized DDoS attacks on them in order to deprive them of the chance to win the main prize of the tournament. However, after that, a DDoS attack began on the Internet provider Andorra Telecom, and the remaining participants from the principality simultaneously interrupted connection and streaming on Twitch.

About an hour later, Andorra Telecom reported on a social network that the provider was returning to normal after a DDoS attack. Up to this point, dissatisfied members of SquidCraft Games could only speculate on the reasons for the shutdown. All Andorran participants in SquidCraft Games dropped out of the tournament at Twitch. This is sad and unfair, but the organizers had no special choice. Some experts from the Internet browser NetBlocks suspect that the DDoS attack was directed at Andorra Telecom due to The SquidCraft Games tournament and a large prize at stake.^[1]

Notes