The internet around the world has been slowed down in what security experts are describing as the biggest cyber-attack of its kind in history.A row between a spam-fighting group and hosting firm has sparked retaliation attacks affecting the wider internet.It is having an impact on popular services like Netflix – and experts worry it could escalate to affect banking and email systems.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21954636Also see:Firm Is Accused of Sending Spam, and Fight Jams Internet
A squabble between a group fighting spam and a Dutch company that hosts Web sites said to be sending spam has escalated into one of the largest computer attacks on the Internet, causing widespread congestion and jamming crucial infrastructure around the world.Millions of ordinary Internet users have experienced delays in services like Netflix or could not reach a particular Web site for a short time.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/27/technology/internet/online-dispute-becomes-internet-snarling-attack.htmlMillions May Be Affected by Web Disruption in Online Attack
Millions of people may have been affected by an attack that caused disruption and a slowdown of the Internet, according to a not-for-profit anti-spam organization that blacklisted a Dutch Web-hosting company.The interruptions came after Spamhaus, a spam-fighting group based in Geneva, temporarily added CyberBunker to a blacklist that is used by e-mail providers to weed out spam. The attacks work by trying to make a network unavailable to its intended users by overloading a server with coordinated requests to access it, according to security firm Kaspersky Lab.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-27/millions-may-be-affected-in-web-disruption-anti-spam-group-says.htmlLarge-scale DNS DDoS attack on Spamhaus
Almost unnoticed by the public, the most aggressive DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack in the history of the internet was carried out last week. At least this is what the New York Times reports, referring to statements made by a high-ranking member of staff at content distribution provider Akamai. The attack targeted the Spamhaus anti-spam organisation.Apparently, Spamhaus seriously trod on various spammers’ toes before the attack. The organisation had added IP address blocks belonging to Cyberbunker, a Dutch hosting service that is considered to be spammer friendly, to its blacklist. As almost 80 per cent of anti-spam filters use this blacklist and consequently began to block Cyberbunker, customers of the hosting service suddenly found themselves almost unable to send out any emails.
http://www.h-online.com/security/news/item/Large-scale-DNS-DDoS-attack-on-Spamhaus-1831807.html
Global internet slows after ‘biggest attack in history’
The internet around the world has been slowed down in what security experts are describing as the biggest cyber-attack of its kind in history.