[ISN] 'Hacktivism' threatens world of nations

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/31/nazario_hactivism_analysis/

By Dan Goodin in San Jose
The Register
31st July 2008

Usenix - Politically motivated computer attacks like the one last year 
that crippled network traffic in Estonia for weeks are likely to 
increase, and there's not much victims can do to stop them, a security 
researcher says.

Indeed, just last week government websites in the former Soviet republic 
of Georgia were ransacked by a denial-of-service attack amid growing 
diplomatic tensions between the country and Russia. Other victims 
include Radio Free Europe and dissidents in Tibet and Burma.

And an explosion of do-it-yourself tools is making it easier than ever 
to assure that the attacks are more and more powerful, Jose Nazario, a 
security analyst for Arbor Networks said at the Usenix Security 
Symposium in San Jose, California. That gives the politically 
disaffected a power they've never had before.

[...]


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