One of the Worst Assaults Ever

One of the worst attacks on the internet ever recorded shut down seven of the 13 root servers that undergird internet service. The attack lasted for an hour on the servers that control domain names. However, most internet users were unaware of the attack as the slack from the seven effected servers was taken up by the remaining four. Two other servers were impaired. The US Federal Bureau of Investigations is looking into the attack, but noted that it will be difficult to find the source. The head of the Internet Software Consortium, Inc. added that since few people experienced a denial of service, the servers’ security system was effective. Still to be solved is to find out who were the perpetrators. Are they hackers or terrorists? – YaleGlobal

One of the Worst Assaults Ever

Attack by hackers almost cripples Internet
Thursday, October 24, 2002

SAN DIEGO - Hackers have launched one of the worst attacks ever on the computers that control the Internet, but most users were oblivious as it lasted only one hour.

A prolonged attack on the 13 'root' servers around the globe that control the Web's domain names - dot.com, dot.net, dot.edu and others - could have significantly slowed or even stopped Internet communications, according to the Cox news service.

'An attack did occur, and it appears to have been directed at the root servers,' said Mr Louis Touton, vice-president for the Internet Corp for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann), the quasi-governmental agency that oversees the 13 root servers from its offices in Marina del Rey, California.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating who launched the attack, which reportedly shut down seven of the servers and impaired two others. The remaining four servers are thought to be the minimum needed to keep the Internet operating.

Mr Touton said that during the attack, which began on Tuesday at 4.45 am Singapore time, Web traffic was rerouted from the affected machines to other servers.

He declined to describe the severity of the attack, adding that similar ones had happened before.

But some independent Internet security officials said it was the worst attack ever on the root servers. If it had been sustained, Internet users would have seen significant delays and failed connections.

'It was an attack against all 13 servers, which is a little more rare than an attack against any one,' Mr Paul Vixie, chairman of Internet Software Consortium Inc, told the Washington Post.

The attack was of a type known as 'distributed denial of service'.

Typically in such an attack, hackers hack into personal computers throughout the world. They then use those computers to simultaneously send multiple requests to a server in an attempt to overwhelm it and shut it down.

The fact that the attack failed indicated the root server system's security worked as it should, Mr Touton and others said.

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