http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060316/ap_on_hi_te/internet_attack_5
WASHINGTON - A new variety of unusually powerful Internet attacks
can overwhelm popular Web sites and disrupt e-mails by exploiting
the computers that help manage global Internet traffic, according
to security researchers.
First detected late last year, the new attacks direct such massive
amounts of spurious data against victim computers that even
flagship technology companies could not cope. In one of the early
cases examined, the unknown assailant apparently seized control of
an Internet name server in South Africa and deliberately corrupted
its contents.
Name servers are specialized computers that help direct Internet
traffic to its destinations.
The attacker then sent falsified requests to the compromised
directory computer, which unleashed overwhelming floods of
amplified data aimed wherever the attacker wanted.
Experts traced at least 1,500 attacks that briefly shut
down commercial Web sites, large Internet providers and
leading Internet infrastructure companies during a period of weeks.
The attacks were so targeted that most Internet users did
not notice widespread effects.
Ken Silva, the chief security officer for VeriSign Inc., compared
the scale of attacks to the damage caused in October 2002 when nine
of the 13 computer "root" servers that manage global Internet
traffic were crippled by a powerful electronic attack. VeriSign
operates two of the 13 root server computers, but its machines were
unaffected.
"This is significantly larger than what we saw in 2002, by an order
of magnitude," Silva said.
Silva said the attacks earlier this year used only about 6 percent
of the more than 1 million name servers across the Internet to
flood victim networks. Still, the attacks in some cases exceeded 8
gigabits per second, indicating a remarkably powerful electronic
assault.
"This would be the Katrina of Internet storms," Silva said.
The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team, a partnership with
the
Homeland Security Department, warned network engineers in December
to properly configure their name servers to prevent hackers from
using them in attacks. It called the attacks "troublesome" because
name servers must operate to help direct Internet traffic.
Experts call the attack technique a "distributed reflector denial
of service."
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Bold parts: Looks similar to what Singnet broadband users are
facing now. If this is really true, we are really in for something.
