In a startling turn of events, the indie gaming marketplace, operated under the brand name of itch.io, experienced a lengthy period of downtime on a recent Sunday night. The surprisingly extended offline duration was attributed to an automated takedown process initiated on behalf of Funko, the company known for its creation of Funko Pop collectable figurines. This surprising revelation was shared by the website in the early morning hours of the following Monday.
itch.io boldly stated that the issue was triggered by what they labelled as ‘AI Powered’ Brand Protection Software implemented by Funko. They claimed that the tech generated a false phishing report regarding their website. This incorrect report was subsequently submitted by Funko to itch.io’s domain registrar, a firm known as iwantmyname. Based on this report, and likely driven by an automated system, iwantmyname proceeded to disable the itch.io site, leading to the shutdown.
During this period, itch.io maintained that they had swiftly removed the identified ‘problematic’ page which had led to the creation of the phishing report. They assert that this action was taken as soon as they received the takedown notification. It is their contention that the responsible individuals at iwantmyname, the domain registrar, did not take the time to read their confirmation email regarding the removal of the disputed page.
When enquiries were made by interested parties, a representative from iwantmyname confirmed that, “The domain name was indeed restored earlier today, after receiving a response from the site owner, and after definitive steps were taken to resolve the issue.” At the time of the reply being issued from the domain registrar, itch.io had been back online for less than an hour.
After a complete outage, lasting no less than three hours, itch.io managed to finally get back online somewhere between 5 and 6 a.m. EST, on the following Monday morning. The impact of this outage was undoubtedly severe, affecting a wide swathe of users, from gamers and developers to those who leverage the platform’s open nature. While games and other products that were already purchased from itch.io remained available and problem-free during this period, the absence of the storefront presented severe challenges to creators and developers who rely on it for distribution.
The protection software that is reported to have caused these issues for itch.io is believed to have been developed by a company known as BrandShield. This business markets itself as a provider of an ‘AI-powered online anti-counterfeiting solution’. This solution offers constant monitoring for a variety of threats, including trademark infringements, phishing attempts, brand abuse, and counterfeit activity.
At this point, requests for comment have been put forward to itch.io and Funko, in relation to the recent events. As of yet, no official response has been received from either party. However, for the stakeholders involved, from game developers to users of the platform, the recent turn of events comes as a stark reminder of the vulnerability of online platforms – even for the giants of the industry. It once again stresses the importance of robust digital security measures in our increasingly interconnected world.
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