Popular VPN Service Astrill Is Down Because Of DDoS Attack, Company Reveals On Twitter

Astrill GFWed

Astrill wants its users to know it was the target of a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack yesterday, and that they “are experiencing technical issues with our API servers,” and are investigating, and “apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.”

Unfortunately, if you are in China and only use Astrill, it’s unlikely you’ve gotten this message (unless you happened to see it on Reddit). Astrill’s been tweeting, beginning with this 13 hours ago:

An hour later:

And so on:

So there you have it, Astrill users. (Disclosure: I use Astrill) There is a systemwide problem, but the company’s working on it, and better days are (hopefully) ahead. The company has not revealed the source behind the DDoS, but since it runs a service that is technically “illegal” in China, we have a few guesses.

This post was written with assistance from Witopia. (Disclosure: I also use Witopia. Fuck you, Great Firewall.)

UPDATE, 7:27 pm: Astrill’s back up!

    15 Responses to “Popular VPN Service Astrill Is Down Because Of DDoS Attack, Company Reveals On Twitter”

    1. ex-Witopia customer

      @ OP

      You are a Witopia’s customer?

      Good luck to you.

      I was its loyal customer for two years when a few incidents made me realize that it had been passing my VPN connection logs to my government without proper court orders either from the USA (where it is headquartered) or from the EU Court of Justice.

      I was called up by the secret service of my government and I had to explain to them that although I was a Witopia customer, the VPN connection was shared among its customers. I challenged the secret service to prove that I was the only one using the VPN gateway at that time.

      Have you ever realized Witopia only accepts credit card or PayPal payments and not more anonymous channels such as digital currencies (think Bitcoin, CosmicPay, Perfect Money)?

      Reply
    2. MrT

      My guess is this ITS THE NSA overloading the system because they are spoofing IP addresses in China, then they can accuse china of attacks then US can use force to prevent!

      “UTAH DATA CENTER

      When construction is completed in 2013, the heavily fortified $2 billion facility in Bluffdale will encompass 1 million square feet.”
      The NSA Is Building the Country’s Biggest Spy Center (Watch What You Say)”

      Im really happy I dont have to use American systems here in China.
      Nice and secure for me. say WHAT I FCKING WANT ANY TIME OF DAY!

      Only joking pussies I know you can find me, really.

      Reply
    3. halifax

      And this, my friends, is just yet another reason that you’re an idiot if you use a VPN… so many much better ways.

      Reply
      • MrT

        Pigeon or I hear a message in a bottle is a really cool way to get messages out of china.
        waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

        Reply
        • halifax

          Get a server in a country that cares about privacy and can have IPs swapped out easily. If you keep it to yourself, it’ll never get blocked.

          Reply
    4. shanghai.user

      i am in shanghai, not far from PLA Unit 61398.

      even if i buy and make a vps server, china’s internet brigade can still block my ip address from connecting to twitter and facebook.

      any suggestions?

      Reply
    5. Astrill is not anonymous

      Be careful: Astrill is not anonymous.

      It does not allow you to sign up using a proxy or VPN.

      Upon signing up and to verify your account, you must reply using a one-time PIN sent to a valid mobile phone number.

      All these allow you to be tracked by Astrill.

      Reply
    6. tony mike

      I used to be very happy to seek out this web-site.I needed to thanks on your time for this wonderful read!! I positively having fun with each little bit of it and I’ve you bookmarked to take a look at new stuff you weblog post.

      Reply
    7. Zara

      Astrill is best VPN over here in China that is why their competitors are always attacking on them so their service will get down. Using Astrill since 2010, my favorite VPN Provider.

      Reply

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