TL;DR

  • DeepSeek has restricted new user signups due to large-scale malicious attacks and performance issues.
  • The platform's infrastructure is under strain following its rapid rise in popularity, especially in the U.S.
  • Existing users remain unaffected, but the situation highlights vulnerabilities in DeepSeek's services amidst unprecedented demand.

DeepSeek is limiting new signups on its platform due to “large-scale malicious attacks” on its services, adding to the ongoing turbulence following its meteoric rise to popularity.

This new development was noted in the company’s latest incident report, which described ongoing issues that include degraded performance affecting its web and API services.

While existing users are able to log in without interruptions, the registration for new users is experiencing limitations.

This incident comes close on the heels of DeepSeek’s decision to limit new sign-ups to users within China just hours ago, a move that initially seemed driven by its software’s sudden skyrocketing popularity worldwide, especially in the U.S., where it soared to the top of the iPhone charts.

However, the unanticipated demand had already led to tech glitches over the last few days, including “unusual downtime” unprecedented in the company’s history, as users experienced significant login and registration disruptions.

These challenges underline the stress on DeepSeek’s infrastructure, which has always prided itself on near-perfect uptime.

Powered by its robust R1 model —considered competitive against OpenAI’s O1 — the appeal of DeepSeek’s offerings is undeniable. Yet, this influx appears to have made the company a bigger target for cyber-attacks, an issue that DeepSeek is actively investigating, according to their recent update.

It isn’t immediately clear exactly what type of cyberattack is impacting DeepSeek at the moment but distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks are common in such scenarios.

What does it take to achieve financial independence and retire early? Fire Fast by Dzambhala helps you understand and plan it out.

Join the vibrant privacy-ensured Dzambhala community on