Swissquote Confirms ‘Massive DDoS Attack’, Works on Solution

Swissquote, an online trading platform, confirmed that its servers were the target of "a massive DDoS attack" yesterday and earlier today.

The Switzerland-headquartered trading services provider announced on Twitter that the attack impacted the accessibility of its platforms and services. The brokerage said the downturn in service that ensued is the result of defence triggers from its IT systems and internet providers.

1/2 Yesterday, and partly today Swissquote experienced a massive DDoS attack.
This affected the accessibility of our platforms and services due to the attack and the defence solution triggered by our IT systems and our Internet providers.

— Swissquote (in English) (@Swissquote) November 9, 2022

A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack is a malignant push to disrupt the regular traffic of a targeted server, service, or network by bombarding it with internet traffic from a set of compromised and interconnected computers. However, Swissquote said its systems are back to being functional, although they might still produce delays for certain services.

‘Massive Data Volumes’

Swissquote told Finance Magnates that the attack “was due to the massive data volumes” on its platform in addition to the triggers.

“Our services are up and running again. Client’s safety is paramount at Swissquote and was never at risk,” Nadja Keller, Swissquote’s Media Relations Manager, said. “Our operational procedures are regularly reviewed and kept up to date at all times,” Keller added.

Swissquote in 2022

The new development at Swissquote comes a few weeks after the firm recorded key milestones, including gaining access to securities listed on the Dubai Financial Market and launching a crypto exchange, SQX, both occurred in October. However, in August, Swissquote reported a -23.1% year-over-year decline in its operating revenue for the first half of 2022. The firm’s net revenue came in at CHF 200 million. This is even as net trading income slumped -28% during the half-year period.

“Despite an environment that was more challenging than initially expected, Swissquote continued to grow its overall customer base in the first half of 2022. The opening of around 34,200 new client accounts (of which some 8,000 non-organic) stands out as a positive development,” Swissquote explained.