Blockchain-based move-to-earn app Stepn under DDoS attacks after upgrade

Solana-based move-to-earn application Stepn has reported multiple denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks in the aftermath of the platform proceeding with a major anti-cheating upgrade.

Stepn took to Twitter on June 5 to report that the platform has suffered a number of DDoS attacks causing recovery maintenance and associated improper performance.

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We have been under multiple DDOS attacks in the past hours. Securing the servers and recovery may take anywhere from 1 to 12 hours. We recommend you take some rest during the maintenance or otherwise the work-outs may not be recorded properly.

— STEPN | Public Beta Phase IV (@Stepnofficial) June 5, 2022

According to the statement, Stepn was expecting to secure and recover the servers in up to 12 hours but has not posted an update for 20 hours by the time of writing.

“Our engineers are working hard to fix the problems. We will announce here once recovery is complete. Thank you so much for everyone’s patience,” Stepn wrote.

The attacks came shortly after Stepn introduced its anti-cheating system referred to as “Stepn’s Model for Anti-Cheating,” or SMAC, on June 3. The system aims to eliminate fake users from the platform as well as to prevent fraudulent motion data on the Stepn app in an attempt to gain unfair profit from the platform.

“SMAC system specifically targets the movement simulation by amending real walking/running data, thanks to our machine learning algorithm,” the anti-cheating system’s description reads.

Stepn reported on major platform issues soon after proceeding with the upgrade, with SMAC mistakenly identifying some genuine users as bots. Other problems included network issues caused by a “25 million DDOS attack” as well as the temporary inability to track any bots on the platform.

“We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience caused to users. The anti-cheating update may seem small, but it is actually an important cornerstone of Stepn's long-term development,” Stepn said.

Despite the platform's DDoS issues, Stepn’s native token, the Green Satoshi Token (GST), has not seen any critical decline over the past several days. On the contrary, the GST is up around 10% over the past 24 hours, trading at $1.04 at the time of writing. The token’s market capitalization amounts to $624 million, according to data from CoinGecko.

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Launched in December 2021, Stepn is a major move-to-earn mobile nonfungible token (NFT) game allowing users to earn tokens by walking, jogging or running outdoors with an NFT sneaker. The game has a dual token system, including the GST token and the Governance Token (GMT).

The news comes as Stepn prepares to limit its platform’s availability for users in mainland China by mid-July.