NicoNico Will Take a Month to Return

In a follow-up response to how NicoNico Douga is down as a result of a major cyber attack, Dwango and Kadokawa have announced that it might take a month before the video sharing platform returns. For now, you can access NicoNico through a new version of the website, though it’s very limited.

The new version is NicoNico Douga (Re: Temporary). You’ll only be able to view popular videos from 2007, but Dwango plans to add more later. Though you won’t need to make an account to watch anything on it, there will only be the bare minimum of functions available. It’ll feel like using NicoNico from when the website first launched.

NicoNico released a video apologizing for and explaining the incident. The official blog and Dwango’s website have also gone into more detail. To summarize, the cyber attack was a large scale one that involved the usage of ransomware. Dwango delayed in informing the public about the ransomware because the programmers wanted to make sure the servers were relatively safe. This was so as not to incite the attacker to move on to the next step. Dwango has already taken steps to ensure that accounts are safe and network security is stronger. But it will continue to monitor the situation and adjust these security measures as necessary. Though data on the videos are fine, Dwango hasn’t confirmed yet if anyone took personal information. This includes information on credit card numbers and passwords.

As for when NicoNico will return, it may take over a month. In the meantime, people can use the new NicoNico Douga site above. Dwango will compensate people paying for membership fees or premium for two months’ worth of time. The NicoNico Manga app should return some time in June 2024.

You can read the full Q&A about the attack on Dwango’s website, though it’s in Japanese.

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