DeepSeek, the Chinese AI startup that recently dethroned OpenAI’s ChatGPT as the top-rated free app on Apple’s App Store in the United States, announced it is facing a significant cyber attack, prompting the company to temporarily halt new user registrations.
Founded in 2023, DeepSeek has quickly emerged as a formidable player in the AI industry, focusing on large language models and aiming towards artificial general intelligence (AGI). Its open-source model, DeepSeek-R1, has been particularly noted for its efficiency and performance.
This cyber incident comes at a critical time for DeepSeek, as it basks in the success of its DeepSeek-V3 model. Launched with much fanfare, DeepSeek-V3 has been hailed as a breakthrough in AI technology, offering superior performance across various benchmarks while maintaining cost-effectiveness.
.png
)
With 671 billion total parameters and employing an innovative Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) architecture, DeepSeek-V3 has quickly become the talk of the tech world, outperforming other open-source models and even rivaling closed-source giants like those from OpenAI and Anthropic.
According to statements from DeepSeek, the attack is large-scale and malicious, affecting the company’s services. “Due to large-scale malicious attacks on DeepSeek’s services, we are temporarily limiting registrations to ensure continued service for existing users,” the company stated on its status page. Existing users are not affected and can continue logging in without disruption.
The timing of the attack coincides with DeepSeek’s meteoric rise in popularity. Just hours earlier, DeepSeek’s AI Assistant app had surpassed ChatGPT in downloads, leading to a notable impact on global technology markets. This surge in user base is believed to have made the company a prime target for cybercriminals.
DeepSeek’s recent success has been largely due to its release of the DeepSeek-R1 model, an open-source AI that has been praised for its advanced reasoning capabilities and cost-effectiveness compared to other leading AI models.
This model’s performance has attracted a massive user base and caused a stir in the tech industry, leading to a significant sell-off in AI-related stocks.
Cybersecurity experts have commented on the incident, noting that rapid growth often puts companies in the crosshairs of cyber attacks. “DeepSeek has certainly been in the limelight in recent days, which can act as a huge honeypot for cybercriminals,” said Jake Moore, Global Cyber Security Advisor at ESET, highlighting the inherent risks of such high visibility in the tech sector.
The cyber attack has raised concerns about user data security and the integrity of DeepSeek’s platform. The startup has reassured users that it is actively working with cybersecurity experts to assess the damage and implement stronger security measures.
Users have been advised to monitor their accounts for any suspicious activity and to await further communications from DeepSeek regarding additional safety protocols.
This incident has also sparked discussions about the broader implications for AI security, especially as AI technologies become more integral to daily life and business operations.
The attack on DeepSeek serves as a reminder of the vulnerabilities that can accompany rapid technological advancement and widespread adoption.
As of now, DeepSeek has not provided details on the attackers or the exact nature of the cyber attack but has committed to updating its community as more information becomes available.
Are you from SOC/DFIR Teams? – Analyse Malware Files & Links with ANY.RUN Sandox -> Try for Free
