Word: attackers
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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While some Facebook services were unavailable early Aug. 6, Facebook officials said it wasn't immediately clear if it was related to the Twitter attack...
...DDoS attacks are surprisingly low tech. Using a network of computers (dubbed zombies) controlled by a single master machine, the hacker tries to overwhelm a website's servers. It's a brute-force approach - the network of hacker-controlled computers floods the server with requests for data until the server overloads and comes crashing down. Graham Cluley, a computer security expert, likened the attack to "15 fat men trying to get through a revolving door at the same time." The attacks do no lasting damage - user data aren't compromised, and the site isn't down for long. Once...
Adding to the chaos is the fact that the zombie computers often show no signs of being infected. Hackers look for computers with security vulnerabilities and infect them in advance of an attack. When the hackers are ready to launch the assault, the master computer awakens its zombie army, and the attack begins. Because DDoS utilizes multiple computers from multiple locations - and because hackers may use their network for only a single attack - there's no way to protect against a seemingly random array of computers suddenly going rogue. Once the attack begins, websites can try to trace the sudden...
This method of causing computer chaos has been used at least as far back as 1998, when the first software tools were developed to assist in DDoS assaults. But the attacks didn't garner much attention until 2000, when Amazon, eBay, Yahoo! and CNN were brought down in a single week by a Canadian teenager. They've been a scourge ever since and have even been employed in cyberwarfare. During the war between Russia and Georgia last year, hackers brought down several Georgian websites using a DDoS attack. And in the aftermath of Iran's tumultuous election in June, several...
...substantive bill may be good enough for Geithner, who may have the most at stake. He survived the terrible start of his tenure at Treasury and managed to lead the Administration's efforts to stabilize the markets under constant attack. But he continues to struggle with the impression that he is soft on Wall Street, having come from the New York Fed (and having played a part in the crisis dealings with Lehman Brothers and AIG last fall), which is considered more sympathetic to the financial industry than some Washington overseers. To truly succeed as Treasury Secretary, insiders say, Geithner...