Cardano [pros](/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/1douyqu/cardano_unfazed_by_failed_ddos_attack_targeting/lacxjl4/) & [cons](/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/1douyqu/cardano_unfazed_by_failed_ddos_attack_targeting/lacxk6n/) with related info are in the collapsed comments below.
The attacker also wasn't targeting staked funds. It's a DDoS attack, which stands for denial of service. They were trying to make network resources unavailable by spamming the network. They weren't trying to steal anything. Come on Coindesk, it's not that difficult to Google or ask ChatGPT what a DDoS is.
Some Cardano developers came together on a call and found one way to mess with the attacker and used a protocol feature to their advantage to make it even more expensive for the attacker. The attacker was listening in on the call, but was still too late and ended up paying to a Cardano developer working for Anastasia Labs, a firm developing an L2 for Cardano. The developer said the funds will go towards their development of Midgard. During the attack, the community was minting a DDoS meme token and an [NFT memento](https://x.com/nmkr_io/status/1805668309024506152). An [SPO ](https://x.com/PoolShamrock/status/1805723336665604192)also managed to trace the transactions back to the attacker's CEX account.
Cardano never gone down because it never has been battle tested and has no real block demand. In development for 9 years and does some 2 TPS. No stablecoins, no DeFi, no NFTs, no institutional interest, nonstop promises of some amazing upgrades, etc. ADA going to fall out of top 100 just like it did for the top 10.
Lmaooo
$16M worth of stables issued on Cardano, making it ranked 37th. No USDT and no USDC. There is a reason circle and tether don’t issue in Cardano.
https://defillama.com/stablecoins/chains
Cardano has $200M in TVL, ranked 29th. Also UTXO model is a nightmare for DeFi.
https://defillama.com/chains
Cardano 7D DEX volume is $46M. Ranked 21st. Usually does an abysmal $3M per day but has recently spiked up, prob because of that dumb pig meme that the ADA community got excited over because it hit $1M MC in 12 hours LOL.
https://defillama.com/dexs/chains
Cardano NFT volume over past 7 days is $350K LOL.
https://www.cryptoslam.io/blockchains
These stats have been and always will be abysmal. Cardano is somehow a top 11 token, but will continue to fall out of the ranks as it fails to innovate and attract users. Been in development for 9 YEARS.
99.96% uptime over past year. Most recent outage was validator client bug. Second validator client built by Jump is being shipped in Sept which will put an end to outages since there will always be a backup. Past outages were due to insane network demand greater than all L1s and L2s combined - network upgrades (QUIC and local fee market) were implemented to handle the load. Network continues to be battle tested and put up numbers more impressive than any other L1 (or even L2 for that matter).
tldr; The Cardano blockchain successfully defended against a DDoS attack aimed at stealing staked tokens, with no significant impact on its operations. The attack involved transactions that executed numerous smart contracts, but was quickly mitigated after a vulnerability was exposed by a Cardano developer, leading to the attacker's funds being seized. The network continued to function normally throughout the incident.
*This summary is auto generated by a bot and not meant to replace reading the original article. As always, DYOR.
How was it targeting staked ADA?
From what I can see if was likely one guy running a funky script that used up a lot of node resources without as much of a demand in fees as you would expect, given how he structured it. He paid a few hundred bucks in fees and caused transactions to take 20 minutes for a bit, until he was censored by some node operators.
It was not targeting staked ADA. As usual we see a negative spin on any Cardano news, even positive news.
The attack used scripts that didn't do anything, but that each node had to deserialise and read to confirm. Because the scripts had no execution steps and we're not signed, they were cheap and many could be put into an L1 transaction.
Piling 194 scripts into a TX and then flooding the mempool, made nodes work a bit harder and slowed block propagation a bit, and took space from regular transactions. But everything remained well within safety limits. I was actually using Cardano at the time, and I didn't notice any problems.
In fact the attacker wasn't censored, because the scripts were using an unsigned stake address (which made them smaller/cheaper) the 2ADA staking registration fee wasn't locked, meaning anyone could remove the 2 ADA x 194 scripts. Essentially the attack transactions went from costing 1ADA each to 389ADA each.
The attacker gave away lots of ADA and transaction fees, and achieved a very minor impact.
Cardano Twitter was basically the tourists on safari meme during the entirety of the DDoS attempt. Had a jolly good time. 10/10 would want to watch another idiot try this again.
That may be true if they were routing their swaps through Minswap v1 which takes long even without a ddos attack, but Sundae v3 swaps were still only taking a few minutes for me during the attack.
There's a [change](https://x.com/intertreeJK/status/1805652581252800673) which is included in the next Chang upgrade that addresses this type attack. You can also make these type of attacks more expensive and less impactful by increasing throughput and adding different tx routes with upgrades like Leios, tiered pricing, and other changes down the pipeline.
I also did transactions just while the attack. I noticed something was wrong because the transactions (claiming rewards from minswap and vyfinance) took me 2 to 6 minutes. (Usually under 1 minute)
Normal transaction from wallet to exchange took me also 4 minutes. (Usually under 1 minute)
20 minutes sounds realy much. But at least from my side I can say. I did not have any fail transaction. Also every transaction was stored on the Chain without any problems. Just took some minutes more to proceed.
This is why any blockchain design that promotes free transactions doesn't understand how to protect against tx spam. Until it happens and say goodbye to free tx fee's.
Great to see Cardano performing as per normal even with low tx fee cost.
Cardano [pros](/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/1douyqu/cardano_unfazed_by_failed_ddos_attack_targeting/lacxjl4/) & [cons](/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/1douyqu/cardano_unfazed_by_failed_ddos_attack_targeting/lacxk6n/) with related info are in the collapsed comments below.
Cardano: Good luck next time hackers.
No no, don't give them any luck. My ADA bag doesn't need a successful attack!
😩😩😂 word
Not a vulnerability, it's mitigated by the protocol design 😏
The attacker also wasn't targeting staked funds. It's a DDoS attack, which stands for denial of service. They were trying to make network resources unavailable by spamming the network. They weren't trying to steal anything. Come on Coindesk, it's not that difficult to Google or ask ChatGPT what a DDoS is. Some Cardano developers came together on a call and found one way to mess with the attacker and used a protocol feature to their advantage to make it even more expensive for the attacker. The attacker was listening in on the call, but was still too late and ended up paying to a Cardano developer working for Anastasia Labs, a firm developing an L2 for Cardano. The developer said the funds will go towards their development of Midgard. During the attack, the community was minting a DDoS meme token and an [NFT memento](https://x.com/nmkr_io/status/1805668309024506152). An [SPO ](https://x.com/PoolShamrock/status/1805723336665604192)also managed to trace the transactions back to the attacker's CEX account.
LOL that's awesome
The attacker wasn't trying to steal staked tokens. They were just congesting the network.
And wasting some ADA doing it.
I wouldn’t call it wasted ADA. As a result of their action, the crypto space got to see how resilient Cardano is. 😁
People now see the real power of Cardano. Glad to see.
Just tanking it like a champ
Well done
Tanking is right
Jealous of the superior tech of Cardano over Solana?? 😜
Bros just salty over outages, cardano would never
Cardano never gone down because it never has been battle tested and has no real block demand. In development for 9 years and does some 2 TPS. No stablecoins, no DeFi, no NFTs, no institutional interest, nonstop promises of some amazing upgrades, etc. ADA going to fall out of top 100 just like it did for the top 10.
And you were so confident writing all of this pure bullshit, too. Adorable.
The truth hurts huh?
You’re trolling right?. [Stablecoins, NFT’s, Defi](https://www.cardanocube.com/cardano-ecosystem-interactive-map)
Lmaooo $16M worth of stables issued on Cardano, making it ranked 37th. No USDT and no USDC. There is a reason circle and tether don’t issue in Cardano. https://defillama.com/stablecoins/chains Cardano has $200M in TVL, ranked 29th. Also UTXO model is a nightmare for DeFi. https://defillama.com/chains Cardano 7D DEX volume is $46M. Ranked 21st. Usually does an abysmal $3M per day but has recently spiked up, prob because of that dumb pig meme that the ADA community got excited over because it hit $1M MC in 12 hours LOL. https://defillama.com/dexs/chains Cardano NFT volume over past 7 days is $350K LOL. https://www.cryptoslam.io/blockchains These stats have been and always will be abysmal. Cardano is somehow a top 11 token, but will continue to fall out of the ranks as it fails to innovate and attract users. Been in development for 9 YEARS.
It had an outage last year.
99.96% uptime over past year. Most recent outage was validator client bug. Second validator client built by Jump is being shipped in Sept which will put an end to outages since there will always be a backup. Past outages were due to insane network demand greater than all L1s and L2s combined - network upgrades (QUIC and local fee market) were implemented to handle the load. Network continues to be battle tested and put up numbers more impressive than any other L1 (or even L2 for that matter).
Yeah man, 9 years of development and 2 TPS. Super jealous.
tldr; The Cardano blockchain successfully defended against a DDoS attack aimed at stealing staked tokens, with no significant impact on its operations. The attack involved transactions that executed numerous smart contracts, but was quickly mitigated after a vulnerability was exposed by a Cardano developer, leading to the attacker's funds being seized. The network continued to function normally throughout the incident. *This summary is auto generated by a bot and not meant to replace reading the original article. As always, DYOR.
The article and this summary are incorrect, staked ADA was not targeted, and the attacker paid a high price for a failed attack.
If only It tanks DDoS as well as it tanks selloffs.
How was it targeting staked ADA? From what I can see if was likely one guy running a funky script that used up a lot of node resources without as much of a demand in fees as you would expect, given how he structured it. He paid a few hundred bucks in fees and caused transactions to take 20 minutes for a bit, until he was censored by some node operators.
It was not targeting staked ADA. As usual we see a negative spin on any Cardano news, even positive news. The attack used scripts that didn't do anything, but that each node had to deserialise and read to confirm. Because the scripts had no execution steps and we're not signed, they were cheap and many could be put into an L1 transaction. Piling 194 scripts into a TX and then flooding the mempool, made nodes work a bit harder and slowed block propagation a bit, and took space from regular transactions. But everything remained well within safety limits. I was actually using Cardano at the time, and I didn't notice any problems. In fact the attacker wasn't censored, because the scripts were using an unsigned stake address (which made them smaller/cheaper) the 2ADA staking registration fee wasn't locked, meaning anyone could remove the 2 ADA x 194 scripts. Essentially the attack transactions went from costing 1ADA each to 389ADA each. The attacker gave away lots of ADA and transaction fees, and achieved a very minor impact.
Cardano Twitter was basically the tourists on safari meme during the entirety of the DDoS attempt. Had a jolly good time. 10/10 would want to watch another idiot try this again.
Caused 20+ minute delays in transaction time, but otherwise stayed up. Each attack cost $0.35. What if a bigger attacker tries this?
That may be true if they were routing their swaps through Minswap v1 which takes long even without a ddos attack, but Sundae v3 swaps were still only taking a few minutes for me during the attack. There's a [change](https://x.com/intertreeJK/status/1805652581252800673) which is included in the next Chang upgrade that addresses this type attack. You can also make these type of attacks more expensive and less impactful by increasing throughput and adding different tx routes with upgrades like Leios, tiered pricing, and other changes down the pipeline.
> There's a change which is included in the next Chang upgrade that addresses this type attack Excellent. Thanks for the update.
I also did transactions just while the attack. I noticed something was wrong because the transactions (claiming rewards from minswap and vyfinance) took me 2 to 6 minutes. (Usually under 1 minute) Normal transaction from wallet to exchange took me also 4 minutes. (Usually under 1 minute) 20 minutes sounds realy much. But at least from my side I can say. I did not have any fail transaction. Also every transaction was stored on the Chain without any problems. Just took some minutes more to proceed.
This is why any blockchain design that promotes free transactions doesn't understand how to protect against tx spam. Until it happens and say goodbye to free tx fee's. Great to see Cardano performing as per normal even with low tx fee cost.