Survival Game Servers: Where DDoS Is a Raid Strategy
In ARK and Rust, DDoS isn't just griefing — it's a competitive tactic. Attackers DDoS the server during online raids so defenders can't log in to protect their base. They time attacks to coincide with tame-raising timers, purge events, or wipe day. The server goes down, the attackers' timers keep ticking on their client, and when the server comes back, the damage is done.
This is uniquely frustrating because the attacks are targeted and strategic. They're not random script kiddies — they're players who know exactly when a 30-minute outage will cause maximum damage to a specific tribe or clan.
How 1-SEC Handles Survival Server Threats
1-SEC sits on your dedicated server or VPS and monitors traffic patterns, authentication attempts, and file integrity.
Raid-Hour DDoS Detection
The Network Guardian learns your server's normal traffic patterns. During a DDoS, it identifies the flood traffic and rate-limits or blocks the source IPs while keeping legitimate player connections alive. For ARK servers running on non-standard ports (7777/7778 game, 27015 query), 1-SEC monitors all of them.
RCON and Web Admin Security
ARK's RCON and Rust's web-based admin panel (RustAdmin, Rust+) are constant brute-force targets. 1-SEC's Auth Fortress monitors authentication attempts on these interfaces and locks out attackers. For Rust servers using Rust+ companion app, the API endpoint gets the same protection.
Config and Save File Integrity
GameUserSettings.ini (ARK) and server.cfg (Rust) are critical files that control everything from admin passwords to gameplay settings. 1-SEC's Runtime Watcher monitors these files and alerts on unauthorized changes. If someone gains access and modifies your admin password or enables cheats, you know immediately.
Setup for Different Hosting Scenarios
Dedicated server (Linux): curl -fsSL https://1-sec.dev/get | sh && 1sec up Dedicated server (Windows): Download 1sec.exe, run 1sec.exe up VPS (OVH Game, Hetzner): Same as dedicated — 1-SEC runs alongside your game server
For hosts running multiple ARK maps or Rust servers on one machine, a single 1-SEC instance covers everything. The embedded event bus correlates attacks across all your game server instances — if someone is DDoSing your Ragnarok map while brute-forcing RCON on your Fjordur map, 1-SEC connects those dots and escalates it as a coordinated attack.
Resource usage is minimal: ~50MB RAM, negligible CPU. Your game server performance is unaffected.