Solana (SOL) faces another potential DDoS attack; network goes down

Solana (SOL), the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap and one of the biggest gainers in 2021 has reportedly faced another distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. A DDoS attack usually sends multiple requests to the attacked web resource – to exceed the platform’s capacity to handle multiple requests… and prevent the platform from functioning correctly.

The Solana network reportedly went down again marking the third incident of its kind over the past six months. The downtime started earlier this morning and the network went up again at around 7 o’clock (UTC+8) and currently functioning normally.

It was fixed after 7 o’clock (UTC+8) and returned to normal.

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) January 4, 2022

The growing number of DDoS attacks on the SOL network is believed to originate from fundamental flaws in its blockchain. A Grayscale security report from December 2021 highlighted that SOL uses a new blockchain technology that is not widely used, and may not function as intended. There may be flaws in the cryptography underlying the network, including flaws that affect the functionality of the SOL Network or make the network vulnerable to attack.

Can Solana overcome the technical flaws?

The Solana network first went down for more than 24-hours and even after multiple attempts to fix it, the developers had to eventually restart the network. While the core team of Solana has played down these attacks, the community thinks Solana needs to work on the fundamental flaws. The altcoin had a phenomenal 2021 despite minor ups and downs, but a potential DDoS attack at the start of the year again highlighted that the network is still vulnerable.

SOL reached a new all-time high of $260 in November this year and is currently down by 35% from the top. The altcoin is currently trading at $167 with a 3% decline over the past 24-hours. The current downtrend in Solana’s price is a result of the overall bearish market and the DDoS attack seems to have had little impact until now.

About Author

An engineering graduate, Prashant focuses on UK and Indian markets. As a crypto-journalist, his interests lie in blockchain technology adoption across emerging economies.