Network Issues

Summary

On 29 May 2026, network services within the Melbourne datacentre experienced a large-scale, sustained Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack targeting infrastructure within the facility.

The attack resulted in periods of increased latency, packet loss, and intermittent connectivity issues affecting VPSBlocks services hosted within the Melbourne datacentre environment.

The incident was managed by the datacentre network engineering team in conjunction with their upstream DDoS mitigation provider. Multiple rounds of mitigation tuning and traffic filtering were required due to the scale and evolving nature of the attack.

Normal service levels were restored following the successful implementation of enhanced mitigation measures.

Customer Impact

During the incident, some customers may have experienced:

• Increased network latency
• Packet loss
• Intermittent connectivity issues
• Temporary service degradation

No customer data was compromised, modified, or lost as a result of this event.

Timeline

29 May 2026 – approximately 12:55 PM AEST
A significant volume of malicious traffic was detected targeting network infrastructure within the Melbourne datacentre.

29 May 2026 – approximately 1:25 PM AEST
Initial DDoS mitigation measures reduced congestion levels and improved network stability.

29 May 2026 – Afternoon and Evening
Additional waves of attack traffic were observed. The datacentre and mitigation provider implemented further filtering policies, traffic engineering changes, and enhanced scrubbing measures to address evolving attack vectors.

30 May 2026 – approximately 8:21 PM AEST
Mitigation measures successfully suppressed the remaining attack traffic and network conditions returned to normal operating levels.

Root Cause

The disruption was caused by a sustained, multi-vector DDoS attack targeting network infrastructure within the Melbourne datacentre.

The attack generated traffic volumes and attack patterns that required multiple rounds of mitigation tuning and threshold adjustments by the datacentre's upstream DDoS protection provider before traffic could be fully filtered.

This was an external network attack and was not caused by any VPSBlocks systems, customer infrastructure, or configuration changes.

Resolution

To restore service stability, the datacentre and upstream mitigation provider:

• Routed traffic through dedicated DDoS scrubbing infrastructure
• Applied enhanced filtering and rate-limiting policies
• Performed multiple rounds of mitigation rule optimisation
• Continuously monitored and adjusted protection thresholds as attack patterns evolved

These measures successfully filtered malicious traffic while allowing legitimate customer traffic to continue reaching services hosted within the datacentre.

Post-Incident Actions

Following the incident, VPSBlocks has worked with the Melbourne datacentre and upstream mitigation providers to review the event and identify opportunities to improve response effectiveness for future large-scale network attacks.

Actions completed are as follows:

• Review of the incident timeline and mitigation effectiveness with datacentre network engineers.
• Validation of escalation procedures between the datacentre, DDoS mitigation provider, and VPSBlocks operations team.
• Review of traffic routing and scrubbing policies used during the incident.
• Confirmation that enhanced mitigation profiles developed during this event remain available for rapid deployment should similar attack patterns reoccur.
• Internal review of customer communication processes to ensure timely status updates during major network incidents.

Moving Forward

VPSBlocks worked closely with the datacentre network engineering team throughout the incident and remained in continuous communication while mitigation activities were underway.

We appreciate our customers' patience during this event and will continue to work with our infrastructure partners to ensure appropriate mitigation measures remain in place for future large-scale network attacks.