The brand new social network, Ello, just fought off its first DDoS attack. The one-month old site was down for 45 minutes on Sunday as its web team struggled to block the IP addresses launching the attacks.

Visitors to any of the site’s pages during that time saw the following error message: “The site is currently unavailable while we conduct some necessary maintenance. Follow along for any updates on our status page.” Meanwhile, that status page said “We are undergoing a potential denial of service attack.”

Ello bills itself as the “anti-Facebook,” and offers users  a completely ad-free experience.

“Every post you share, every friend you make and every link you follow is tracked, recorded and converted into data. Advertisers buy your data so they can show you more ads,” says Ello in its manifesto. “We believe there is a better way.”

Ello’s popularity has reportedly exploded in the month since its launch, despite currently being invite-only. At one point late last week, 31,000 people were joining Ello per hour, Gizmodo reports. 

New websites are often prime targets for DDoS attacks, and Ello’s surge in popularity makes it especially attractive. In fact, a new report states the volume of such attacks appears to be increasing. According ZDNet, the “first half of 2014 has seen the most volumetric DDoS attacks on record, making the attack events heavier and more difficult for corporations to cope with.”