DeepSeek's Meteoric Rise: A Cybersecurity Perspective on AI's Rapid Growth

A Meteoric Rice 
DeepSeek Sparks a Globle AI Storm

Since its release in January 2025, DeepSeek has quickly become the focal point of the global AI market. This homegrown "Made in China" large model has created a massive AI storm worldwide.

According to SimilarWeb data, DeepSeek.com’s daily traffic surged from 300,000 visits to 33.4 million visits in just one month, a growth rate of 614%. This performance has helped it surpass Google Gemini, becoming the second most popular AI chatbot globally, only behind OpenAI’s ChatGPT3.

On mobile, DeepSeek also performed impressively. Within just 20 days of launching, its app surpassed 20 million daily active users, with monthly active users reaching 33.7 million, making it one of the top four AI products in terms of daily active users worldwide. Additionally, DeepSeek topped the download charts in the Apple App Store in both Central and North America, surpassing ChatGPT and Google Gemini, among other models developed by global tech giants.

In terms of business collaboration, as a rising star in the AI field, DeepSeek has attracted numerous industry partners with its low-cost, high-performance open-source model. Major domestic cloud service providers such as Tencent Cloud, Huawei Cloud, and Alibaba Cloud have integrated DeepSeek into their platforms, while international tech giants like Microsoft, Nvidia, and Amazon have also announced their partnerships, further expanding its global reach.

Facing Attacks
AI's Rising Popularity Brings Cyber Threats

The rapid rise of DeepSeek has also made it a target for cyberattacks. Since early January 2025, DeepSeek has been continuously targeted by large-scale attacks from external sources. The attackers mainly employed DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) and brute force password attacks, using methods such as HTTP proxy, SSDP, and NTP reflection amplification to try and disable DeepSeek’s services.

The DeepSeek team responded promptly, implementing measures such as IP switching and server resource adjustments, quickly restoring normal operations.

Cybersecurity experts point out that this attack is not an isolated incident. In recent years, cyberattacks targeting high-tech companies have been increasing. The motives behind these attacks are complex, ranging from business competition, ransomware, and data theft of core technologies, to hacker groups with state affiliations attempting to hinder the development of other countries' high-tech industries.

Security Issues
Cyberattacks and Data Security in the AI Era

It is important to note that AI, which empowers everything, can also be used as a weapon by attackers, leading to massive losses. Take ransomware, for example. The misuse of AI technology has resulted in a more severe ransomware threat:

1. Ransomware utilizes GAN (Generative Adversarial Networks) technology to create more deceptive malicious code and phishing emails, making it difficult for traditional security software to detect them;

2. Ransomware uses machine learning to continuously optimize itself, increasing the stealth of attacks. The evolution of ransomware variants outpaces security software, which struggles to keep up with the growing number of samples;

3. AI lowers the entry barrier for ransomware development, enabling anyone to use AI for creating ransomware. AI also makes ransomware reconnaissance and intrusions more intelligent, further exacerbating the threat.

Therefore, the large-scale attacks on DeepSeek also reveal a new undercurrent in the AI industry and the global data industry. From computing power to model weights, AI has become a core asset in global competition. As AI models rapidly grow and develop, they have become new targets for hackers, posing new threats to cybersecurity. Traditional data security frameworks can no longer cover the multiple risks posed by large models. To ensure stability, companies must upgrade their security mindset and improve their data disaster recovery infrastructure. Making data security, including AI security, part of the company’s core is essential.

The Last Line of Defense for Data Security
Backup Security in the Digital Age

The recent attack on DeepSeek is not just a "Chernobyl moment" for the AI industry, but a warning to all businesses. In the digital era, data security and business continuity have become core elements of a company’s competitiveness. Only by elevating disaster recovery planning to a strategic level can companies remain resilient in the face of future uncertainties.

Vinchin provides data protection and data management solutions that serve as the "last line of defense" for businesses' data security through backup.

For example, in the case of ransomware attacks, Vinchin’s secure backup architecture consists of five key components: classification and tiering, backup protection, real-time monitoring, emergency response, and fast recovery. It is designed to address different phases of ransomware attacks, helping users recover precisely, quickly, and securely while minimizing or avoiding business interruptions and financial losses caused by ransomware. Additionally, Vinchin’s self-developed “3-2-1 Backup strategy” anti-ransomware practice strategy offers a more comprehensive security backup experience for users.

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