A website that allows software developers to store their code online fell victim to denial-of-service attacks earlier today.

BitBucket, which was acquired by online collaboration software provider Atlassian last year and whose customers include US retail giant Best Buy, was down for almost an hour following the attacks, while some of Atlassian’s other services were also affected.

Glenn Butler, Atlassian’s IT director, wrote on a company blog post that DDoS attacks are now "a rite of passage for any popular service".

He wrote that precautions by the company and its data centre hosting provider minimise the disruption caused. "Atlassian and its providers have defences in place to protect against denial of service attacks which allowed Atlassian to quickly reduce the impact and time of the attack."

The company’s data centre hosting provider, Contegix, confirmed on its website that one customer had suffered two DDoS attacks. It added that some of its other customers may have experienced service issues as a result.

Atlassian’s customers include a number of technology companies, including IBM, Accenture and digital animation company Pixar.

The story is one many to have emerged recently that will provide pause for thought for companies considering  cloud-based services. Other examples include Amazon Web Services’ recent outage and even Sony’s numerous cyber attacks.