• - Bitcoin.org, one of the first Bitcoin websites, was the target of a large-scale ransomware attack.
• - It was the target of a DDoS attack, and the hackers demanded 0.5 Bitcoin in ransom.
• - The goal of a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) assault is to overload a server with requests, causing it to crash.
• - The website serves as a resource for finding all of the resources needed to begin dealing in Bitcoin, including exchanges, wallets, merchants, forums, and events.

Bitcoin.org's owner isn't having a good time. The website has now become a victim of a ransomware attack after losing the case to post the Bitcoin white paper. The hackers also want to be compensated with Bitcoin worth little over $17,000 — roughly Rs. 13 lakh.

A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack was launched against the website, which is managed by a pseudonymous operator named Cbra. A ransom of 0.5 Bitcoin has been demanded by the attackers.

While the ransom amount may appear insignificant given that it isn't even a single coin, it is a significant sum for an instructional website that has been operational since Bitcoin's inception.

“You could put up a reasonable resistance against most DDoS attacks back in the day,” Cbra told Coin Telegraph. “Now they have complete control over you and can take you down whenever they want. There is no longer a 'fight,' so you go down and stay down till they leave you alone.'

The website has now been restored to its previous state. While cyberattacks are becoming more widespread, they are mainly directed at more well-known websites or organisations, such as cryptocurrency exchanges, wallets, payment gateways, and even social media platforms.

What is Bitcoin.org and how does it work?

It's a learning resource that illustrates how Bitcoin can benefit individuals, businesses, developers, and others. It also serves as a resource for finding all of the tools needed to begin transacting in Bitcoin, such as exchanges, wallets, merchants, forums, and events. The website's goal is to inspire new users to embrace cryptocurrencies and begin trading from anywhere in the world without regard for traditional laws.

In a nutshell, the website is solely an open-source information provider on Bitcoin, blockchain, and cryptocurrencies in general, and it keeps no funds or user data.

It was originally registered in 2018 and shared the Bitcoin white paper, which was written by Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin's mystery founder. Nakamoto mined the chain's first block, known as the genesis block, in 2009, after implementing the Bitcoin code.

Last month, a British court found in favour of Craig Wright, an Australian physicist who claimed to have authored Bitcoin's white paper under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. He won a copyright complaint against Bitcoin.org, compelling the website to remove it from the region's servers.

What is a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack?

The goal of a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) assault is to overload a server with requests, causing it to crash. Because there is always a limit on maximum allowable bandwidth, the server gets swamped with traffic or dummy information, causing it to fail. The server remains down once the attack is successful, denying legitimate users access to the service.

While DoS assaults seldom result in the theft or loss of critical data or assets, they do cost time. If a DDoS attack occurs, an e-commerce website will be unable to take new orders while the server is down. Indirectly, this translates to a loss of revenue and a tarnished reputation in the interim.

DDoS attacks have been around for decades and are unlikely to go out of popularity because the attacking mechanism, like the defences, is always evolving. The size of attacks is increasing, from a few hundred requests per second in the 1990s to terabytes in the 2020s.

Last year, the main crypto exchanges, OKEx and Bitfinex, were the victims of a DDoS attack. The attacks were only able to take down a small portion of their services, but only for a brief time. The attackers employed the exchange's built-in features to overwhelm the server, according to OKEx, and they used 200 to 400GB of data to do so.