[MP-Ryan]

...is apparently going on right now.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/tech-news/internet-slow-its-fallout-from-largest-known-attack-in-web-history/article10433594/

...and in my humble opinion, should result in the ISP cutting off all Internet access to the known attackers immediately.  I realize that won't take down the botnet instantly, but at least punish those responsible somewhat...

...and followed up by criminal arrests.

[Apollo]

Wow. I thought my connection just sucked.

[Klaustrophobia]

these cyberbunker characters sound like real stand-up guys.   


so being as how they've pretty much admitted to being responsible, why can't they just be arrested?  or at the very least shut down.

[Lorric]

these cyberbunker characters sound like real stand-up guys.   


so being as how they've pretty much admitted to being responsible, why can't they just be arrested?  or at the very least shut down.

You've got to get into their bunker first...

[The E]

Yeah, I don't think that bunker will protect against lawsuits. The thing is, proving criminal intent is probably rather hard, and in any case, the people behind this do not seem to be the kind of people that are overly fazed by the prospect of having to deal with a civil lawsuit (I am not sure whether there are criminal laws covering ddos attacks in the relevant jurisdictions).

[SpardaSon21]

I'm pretty sure that something on this scale counts as cyberterrorism.

[Klaustrophobia]

if nothing about this attack falls into the realm of criminal offense, it's time for a DRASTIC overhaul of internet-related laws.

didn't they arrest a bunch of the common idiots who used the anonymous-provided program to take part in the wikileaks related attacks?  if running a single machine in the net (willfully) is illegal, surely masterminding the whole thing is moreso?

[Thaeris]

You know, this is actually kind of awesome in a twisted way. I only hope that the counters to this kind of behavior do not trickled down to the rest of us users in a negative fashion (which is an imaginable likelihood).

Ethically... it is also interesting from a very broad range of standpoints. If the Spamhaus organization can be cited as denying traffic to and from the Cyberbunker server (maybe that's not quite the case, though the exact nature of the dispute was not illustrated in the link), that's certainly troublesome at some level. Likewise, spammers and the motive to commit such an act is also one which is commendable to suppress. But then, what is the rest of the story?

Ultimately what is disappointing is that this happened at all, and that the organizations in question could not peaceably resolve the issue. Oh well...

[headdie]

if nothing about this attack falls into the realm of criminal offense, it's time for a DRASTIC overhaul of internet-related laws.

didn't they arrest a bunch of the common idiots who used the anonymous-provided program to take part in the wikileaks related attacks?  if running a single machine in the net (willfully) is illegal, surely masterminding the whole thing is moreso?

ultimately that would come down to the nation the affected DNS servers reside in iirc.

interesting that the current DNS setup is such a weakness in the internet, I wonder what would be done to either patch out the issue or what could be done instead that is less vulnerable to such incidents

[CommanderDJ]

Ooh, and we just had a lecture about DNS and its potential weaknesses in my computer networks course. It'll be interesting to see how this turns out. I wonder if the claims they're making about the strength of their bunker have any validity to them?

[The E]

Ethically... it is also interesting from a very broad range of standpoints. If the Spamhaus organization can be cited as denying traffic to and from the Cyberbunker server (maybe that's not quite the case, though the exact nature of the dispute was not illustrated in the link), that's certainly troublesome at some level. Likewise, spammers and the motive to commit such an act is also one which is commendable to suppress. But then, what is the rest of the story?

Spamhaus does not block traffic to the sites it blacklists. ISPs and other hosts that subscribe to Spamhaus' services block traffic coming from sites hosted there, on the assumption that a majority of all traffic originating from those subnets is spam. There is no legal requirement for anyone to follow Spamhaus' suggestions.

[JCDNWarrior]

I've been having DNS issues for years resulting in irregular but repeating disconnection, lag spikes and very low kbps, with days of excellent connection followed by days of terrible or no connection, it's quite annoying. Strangely enough, my internet could not be better yesterday and today, been able to finally download a few of the games I've bought on Steam.

I think we should be very careful with implementing new rules and regulations after an event. Bad guys always seem to be good at avoiding or skirting them while the common folk get more prying eyes to see if we're not doing anything bad. What should be done, in my opinion, is to look into the weaknesses of connections, bottlenecks, land and sea lines and try to improve on those, to keep the internet going during such an event.

[The E]

Have you tried using Google Public DNS or OpenDNS?

[JCDNWarrior]

Have you tried using Google Public DNS or OpenDNS?

I'll have to look into that, though I wonder how it could bypass my normal DNS.

Perhaps similar backup systems should, if they are not already, be in place on a wide scale in case of wide cyber attacks, preferrably automated: DNS server doesnt respond, switch to other DNS server, etc?

[karajorma]

...is apparently going on right now.

Or isn't. Depending on who you believe.

[Thaeris]

In related news, if you actually want to destroy the internet:

http://gizmodo.com/5992738/three-crazy-james-bond-villains-were-caught-trying-to-cut-through-the-internets-undersea-cables

[The E]

Have you tried using Google Public DNS or OpenDNS?

I'll have to look into that, though I wonder how it could bypass my normal DNS.

They don't bypass the "normal" DNS. When your PC makes a connection to the net, the access point gives out a default DNS address, usually the one of your ISP. If you change the DNS settings on your end, your computer will simply use that address instead of the provided one.

Perhaps similar backup systems should, if they are not already, be in place on a wide scale in case of wide cyber attacks, preferrably automated: DNS server doesnt respond, switch to other DNS server, etc?

That's why services such as OpenDNS and Google Public exist.

[yuezhi]

I suppose this is why I couldn't access this site yesterday.

[headdie]

no there was another attack so the admins took it down to protect the site