Dota 2 eSports league suspended after players hit by DDoS attacks

G-1, the Chinese Dota 2 league, has been suspended by organisers 17173, following a series of DDoS attacks that caused players to disconnect during their games. The attacks began on Sunday, affecting players from Team Dignitas, Evil Geniuses and Kaipi. 17173 say they are working to rectify the issues, and have sought technical advice from Valve.

"What next? We've shared a guide with all the teams in the G-1 Western Qualifiers yesterday on steps to take to prevent DDoS attacks. Additionally, communications are established with Valve, reporting what has happened in the past few days of G-1 Champions League, along with related details regarding what we know about the as-yet unidentified DDoS attacker(s)."

Sunday's attack forced a mass disconnect from members of Evil Geniuses, with admins ultimately declaring their opponents Absolute Legends the winners due to their in-game advantage at the time.

While the source of the attacks isn't known, one 4Chan poster claimed responsibility, saying it was to prevent him losing a $20,000 bet. This is 4Chan though, so pinch of salt and all.

It'll be interesting to see what measures and recommendations G-1's organisers implement to halt future attacks. Certainly this isn't the first time players have been hit by a DDoS. Ultimately, it seems teams and organisers are going to need to be more rigorous in their protection of players IP addresses - taking steps to make them less easily accessible.

Thanks, PCGamesN .

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.