DeepSeek hit by cyberattack amid soaring demand for AI Assistant

Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek has been targeted by a large-scale cyberattack, leading the company to impose temporary restrictions on new user registrations and manage intermittent website outages. The disruption, which DeepSeek has been investigating since late Monday evening Beijing time, comes at a critical juncture as its AI assistant has surged in popularity, becoming the top-rated free app on Apple’s U.S. App Store.

DeepSeek acknowledged the issue on its status page, advising users that while registration may be delayed, existing users could continue to access the service. The incident marks the company’s longest service outage in nearly three months and raises concerns about the security of AI platforms amid growing competition in the field.

DeepSeek launched its AI assistant on January 10 and has drawn widespread attention for its DeepSeek-V3 model. The company claims the model rivals some of the most advanced closed-source AI solutions despite being developed with a relatively modest budget. DeepSeek’s success, achieved with a reported training cost of under $6 million using Nvidia’s H800 chips, has fueled discussions about U.S. export controls’ effectiveness in limiting China’s access to cutting-edge AI hardware.

While the attack has disrupted user registrations, cybersecurity risks remain significant. Open-source AI models, while accessible and transparent, are susceptible to security breaches, including potential backdoors, data privacy risks, and adversarial manipulation. Many AI platforms relying on open-source frameworks face threats where malicious actors exploit third-party dependencies, manipulate pre-trained models, or introduce systemic vulnerabilities.

DeepSeek’s reliance on servers based in China raises questions about data sovereignty and security. The platform’s developers may influence AI-generated content, and concerns have emerged regarding data privacy and the potential exposure of user-submitted information.

Despite these concerns, DeepSeek has cemented itself as a rising force in the AI sector. The company has positioned itself as a formidable competitor to OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, particularly following the launch of its R1 reasoning model, which has been praised for its performance and open-source framework.

DeepSeek’s rapid ascent has also raised questions about the broader implications of China’s AI advancements. The startup is the first Chinese AI model to gain widespread recognition from Silicon Valley, challenging long-held assumptions about U.S. dominance in AI development. Meanwhile, the attack on its platform underscores the growing cybersecurity threats facing AI companies worldwide.