-----Original Message----- From: NIPC Watch [mailto:nipcwatch@private] Sent: Wednesday, October 23, 2002 5:57 AM To: Cyber Threats Subject: [Cyber_threats] Daily News 10/23/02 October 22, Washingtonpost.com Attack On Internet Called Largest Ever. The heart of the Internet sustained its largest and most sophisticated attack ever, starting late Monday, according to officials at key online backbone organizations. Around 5:00 p.m. EDT on Monday, a "distributed denial of service" (DDOS) attack struck the 13 "root servers" that provide the primary roadmap for almost all Internet communications. Despite the scale of the attack, which lasted about an hour, Internet users worldwide were largely unaffected, experts said. David Wray, a spokesman for the FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC), said the bureau is "aware of the reports and looking into it." DDOS attacks overwhelm networks with an onslaught of data until they cannot be used. According to security experts, the incident probably was the result of multiple attacks, in which attackers concentrate the power of many computers against a single network to prevent it from operating. Internet Software Consortium Inc. Chairman Paul Vixie said that if more servers went down, and if the hackers sustained their hour-long strike a bit longer, Internet users around the world would have begun to see delays and failed connections. Chris Morrow, network security engineer for UUNET, said "This is probably the most concerted attack against the Internet infrastructure that we've seen." DDOS attacks are some of the most common and easiest to perpetrate, but the size and scope of Monday's strike set it apart. Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A828-2002Oct22.html _______________________________________________ Cyber_Threats mailing list Cyber_Threats@listserv http://listserv.infragard.org/mailman/listinfo/cyber_threats
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