Gamers across the world were caught off guard today as major platforms including Steam and Riot Games went down simultaneously, leaving millions unable to play or even log in. The widespread disruption, which also affected services like Epic Games, AWS, and Cloudflare, is now suspected to be the result of a massive distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack carried out by the Aisuru botnet.
Reports began flooding in around 8 AM NZT, with Downdetector lighting up as users complained about server disconnections across games like Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, Valorant, and League of Legends.
Image via downdetector.com
Riot Games even disabled ranked queues while investigating the issue, confirming that the outages impacted all major platforms including Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.
Image Credit: Riot Games
Meanwhile, Steam users were left staring at endless loading screens, with marketplace and matchmaking services timing out across multiple regions, it felt like the Hollow Knight: Silksong launch all over again, when Steam and console stores crashed due to overwhelming traffic from eager fans on Hollow Knight: Silksong Launch Day. But this time, the culprit wasn’t excitement, it was cyber warfare.
The Internet’s Having a Meltdown
The internet is melting: Steam down. Epic Games down. AWS down. Cloudflare wobbling.
f you’re refreshing, you’re not alone. pic.twitter.com/Q98TmTqVYj
— CHRISPI (@cripto_lion) October 7, 2025
The chaos quickly spread, with reports of issues also affecting PlayStation Network, Hulu, and even ISPs like Xfinity and Cox. The pattern suggested a coordinated global hit rather than an isolated failure.
Aisuru Botnet Suspected
Cybersecurity experts are pointing fingers at Aisuru, a rapidly growing botnet responsible for some of the largest DDoS attacks in recent history. According to XLab researchers, Aisuru can unleash up to 29.69 terabits per second of traffic, shattering previous records.
Cybercrime reporter vxdb confirmed the same on X, stating that the Aisuru botnet launched “a series of TCP carpet bomb attacks” that closely mimic normal network traffic, making them much harder to block. TCPShield, a network protection service, also reported they were mitigating “carpet bomb” style attacks around the same time.
Steam and Riot Games are facing large DDoS attacks currently. TCPShield, reports that they are also dealing with TCP Carpet Bomb attacks on their network.
Word on the street its the same AISURU Botnet that hit 29.69tpbs today. pic.twitter.com/ofK0T19sze
— vxdb (@vxdb) October 7, 2025
The Aisuru botnet was first discovered in August 2024 and has since infected over 300,000 devices, from routers and security cameras to DVRs and IoT gateways. Its operators have been described as sophisticated and ideologically motivated, with attacks spanning industries and regions worldwide.
The Bigger Picture
While the platforms affected today have mostly recovered, cybersecurity experts warn that this could be a sign of more large-scale attacks to come. Aisuru’s record-breaking bandwidth and global reach suggest a botnet unlike anything seen before, capable of overwhelming even the strongest infrastructure.
As for gamers, most services are slowly coming back online, but expect continued instability as companies reinforce their defences. It’s a reminder that even the biggest names in gaming aren’t safe from the growing threat of global cybercrime, and that the next “server down” message might not be caused by hype, but by hackers.