BetOnline is Down Due to Cyber Attack

Since yesterday afternoon, industry-leading offshore sportsbook BetOnline has been down due a cyber security attack that has taken over their entire site. Players have been unable to login to accounts to verify balances, place wagers, or access frontend webpages, causing debates on social media discussing whether they’ll ever be up and running again.

Currently, it appears as if this situation is linked to the string of Fancy Bear DDoS attacks and ransom demands plaguing numerous large websites since last week, sometimes referring to themselves by alternative monikers of Cozy Bear and Lazarus. Although, in this specific case it has yet to be confirmed by company representatives.

For those not overly technical, DDoS stands for “distributed denial-of-service attack” and consists of a flood of traffic to a domain from various sources to overload servers, making it impossible for them to display pages. Therefore, legitimate customers cannot gain access and instead receive error messages or blank screens. Usually, perpetrators request ransoms to be sent via cryptocurrency if owners wish to regain control of their domain and resume business.

If interested in learning more, here’s a quick video published by CNN Business explaining how DDoSs work and the components involved:

It’s impossible to guess what’s happening behind the scenes or details of demands being made, so it’s wise not to speculate. It’s unlikely attackers stole the BetOnline database or customers’ credit card particulars, but in theory, anything’s possible and facts are sure to emerge shortly. The good news is that every financial number and pending wager are always copied onto offline databases to ensure member’s funds are safe and ready to use upon restoration of services.

For now, BOL has been removed from all best USA online casino listings but will return as soon as they’re back up and their cyber security has been confirmed. This process will include verifying players’ funds are intact and no personal information has been compromised, with operations completely returning to normal.

Finally, entries in BetOnline contests for NFL Week 6 have been ruled as “pushes”, with the below message sent out at 3pm ET today:

As you are probably aware, BetOnline was the target of a cyberattack on Thursday, which has currently forced our website offline.

Due to this unforeseen situation, we will implement emergency rulings for the ongoing football contests that will most likely continue to be inaccessible throughout this weekend.

Mega Contest

Week 6 of the Mega Contest will be considered null and void. All contestant entries will receive 0 points for Week 6.

Survivor Contest

Week 6 for all Survivor Contest will be considered null and void. All active and eligible contestant entries from Week 6 will advance to Week 7.

We apologize for the inconvenience, and we greatly appreciate your patience as we work toward resolving this issue.

Sincerely,

The BetOnline Team