UltraNetwork and Bot Attacks

[Skully]

ULTRANETWORK & BOT ATTACKS

Hi there,

Recently I think we've all become aware that UltraNetwork has been the target for a series of bot attacks, now more than ever. I'm sure you all have questions and concerns regarding the server so this topic will serve as an explanation to the situation behind the scenes and what's been going on.

What is a bot attack?
To put it simply, it is when someone uses a client to send thousands of "bots" to a server at the same time, to overload the process usage and attempt to crash the server. The bots are client query connections sent to the server's IP address to act as normal players. They usually join with randomly generated names and stay in the server for as long as they can before being kicked for being idle or not logging in. They are mainly effective on cracked servers, because you don't need a Mojang account to join the server - thus a different username creates a completely new account.

Why can't you just ban the bots?
It's not as simple as that - bots join with a different IP address every time, using what is known as a proxy. You've probably heard of proxies or VPNs before. All they do is change your IP address. We can't just ban a bot by it's name or IP because it's constantly changing.

Why is UltraNetwork being attacked?
There is a variety of different tools and clients out there which are accessible and people use what they can for their own reasons. Personally I think it is sad and highly frowned upon to use such tools and bringing down servers for your enjoyment, revenge, or whatever other reason they may have.

We have been experiencing bot attacks constantly, every single day for years. We've done our best to use plugins and tools to filter out as many bots as we can, though as we've seen recently - some newer bot platforms manage to slip through.

The Solution
There really is no way to resolve bot attacks except getting in touch with the creator of the tool or application, and agreeing on a server blacklist from them. Most services usually offer the ability to prevent their tool being used against a server for a certain price. Most bot attack tools get filtered out by our plugins and server protection, but a small minority can manage to slip through if smart enough, and if they're using fresh new proxy lists that haven't yet been discovered. It is extremely difficult to distinguish a genuine player from a bot before they even join and connect to the server fully.

We will always be a target for bot attacks because we are a cracked server, it's as simple as that. The only thing we can do is try to negotiate with the tool creator or the person doing the attacks and come to some sort of solution.

The last thing we want to prevent from happening is ultimately making the server premium only. While this will permanently resolve issues with bots, it will also reduce our playerbase significantly and that's something we are not willing to do. We care about the players and will do our best to provide our service to everyone.

The future for UltraNetwork
We will never stop attempting to keep UltraNetwork alive and running smoothly for our players, we are highly dedicated in providing an enjoyable experience on our servers to everyone - and that's exactly what we'll continue to do. The only thing we ask is for your patience in situations like these where we are the victim of another attack. These things take time to resolve, but at the end of the day they will be fixed and forgotten about within a week or so.

Times like these are simply small hiccups in the road and we'll proceed past them gradually, UltraNetwork will continue to service and create an enjoyable environment for as long as possible. We'd like to thank our donators for being with us and our players for their patience.
 

If you have any further questions, comments of concerns then feel free to ask below in the comments.
Thanks for reading and playing at UltraNetwork!