Internet down for many as massive cyber attack stops Reddit, Spotify, Twitter working

[reece(:]

Much of the internet appears to be broken. And it's all because of one cyber attack.
A distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack*has taken down systems run by Dyn, Inc, one of the largest providers of internet services in the world. And as a result it seems to be causing problems for a variety of websites – including Reddit, Spotify and Twitter.
Dyn runs domain name servers or DNS. They work as a phone book or map to the internet, making sure that when someone writes an address into their computer or phone, it can be directed to the right place and show the right information.

As such, an attack on a DNS company can wreak havoc across large parts of the internet, stopping websites from loading. That is usually done through a DDoS attack, where the servers are hit with so many requests that they stop responding.
The attack is mainly hitting the East part of the US, according to Dyn, Inc. But because it is hitting the tools used to make websites load, it can cause problems across the world on various sites.

As well as the problem being generalised, some people in the same area might find that other people are able to get online, or that other devices are able to. That may be because of the way that DNS information is cached by some networks, meaning that it can still be accessed even if the servers themselves are down.
An update on Dyn's website read: “Starting at 11:10 UTC on October 21th-Friday 2016 we began monitoring and mitigating a DDoS attack against our Dyn Managed DNS infrastructure. Some customers may experience increased DNS query latency and delayed zone propagation during this time. Updates will be posted as information becomes available.”
It said that its engineers were working to mitigate the issue, and that it would post more information when it was clear what was going on.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/internet-down-not-working-reddit-spotify-twitter-websites-loading-issues-problems-a7373616.html

I wanted to tweet :(

[Saph]

idg what people get out of doing this? like ok you can use a computer who cares

[_Tom_]

Yeah Twitter's been down for me for a while and not displaying tweets/pictures

[reece(:]

idg what people get out of doing this? like ok you can use a computer who cares

Drag their pathetic lives! Griefers

[Shaun]

Execution should be brought back for this

[Jordan.]

i think tibb is being attacked cause it's loading slow af for me

[reece(:]

i think tibb is being attacked cause it's loading slow af for me

It was for me too

https://38.media.tumblr.com/7560b08c098fd09f905c4eed917d807e/tumblr_inline_nq3q0ppIwn1sdg6f3_500.gif

[James]

It was the Twitter gadget that makes tweets show, that was slow loading.

[Crimson Dynamo]

as long as it does not affect the daily mail online I can rest easy

[Ammi]

...the impact of ICB launch being felt across the internet...

[Maru]

News says homeland security or whatever is trying to figure out who is responsible... "third wave" incoming, etc. Eerie tweet from WikiLeaks...

http://i.imgur.com/plfwRcX.jpg

This after an NSA contractor was arrested for hoarding secrets in their home.

Ex-NSA contractor committed 'breathtaking' theft of secrets, Justice Dept. says
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-nsa-contractor-top-secret-information-20161020-story.html

Bad day for national security PR :bored:

[Johnnyuk123]

Yeah Twitter's been down for me for a while and not displaying tweets/pictures

I've just got back into my twitter account and i have 65 new friends who all have the same egg shaped head profile pic who want to follow me! :cheer2::cheer2::cheer2:

[Denver]

i dont use the internet anyway

[James]

'Smart' home devices used as weapons in website attack
5 hours ago


Hackers used internet-connected home devices, such as CCTV cameras and printers, to attack popular websites on Friday, security analysts say.

Twitter, Spotify, and Reddit were among the sites taken offline on Friday.

Each uses a company called Dyn, which was the target of the attack, to direct users to its website.

Security analysts now believe the attack used the "internet of things" - web-connected home devices - to launch the assault.

Dyn is a DNS service - an internet "phone book" which directs users to the internet address where the website is stored. Such services are a crucial part of web infrastructure.

On Friday, it came under attack - a distributed denial of service (DDoS) - which relies on thousands of machines sending co-ordinated messages to overwhelm the service.

The "global event" involved "tens of millions" of internet addresses.


Security firm Flashpoint said it had confirmed that the attack used "botnets" infected with the "Mirai" malware.

Many of the devices involved come from Chinese manufacturers, with easy-to-guess usernames and passwords that cannot be changed by the user - a vulnerability which the malware exploits.

"Mirai scours the Web for IoT (Internet of Things) devices protected by little more than factory-default usernames and passwords," explained cybersecurity expert Brian Krebs, "and then enlists the devices in attacks that hurl junk traffic at an online target until it can no longer accommodate legitimate visitors or users."

The owner of the device would generally have no way of knowing that it had been compromised to use in an attack, he wrote.

Mr Krebs is intimately familiar with this type of incident, after his website was targeted by a similar assault in September, in one of the biggest web attacks ever seen.

Media affected by attack - Leo Kelion, technology desk editor

It has emerged that the BBC's website was also briefly caught up in Friday's attack. The BBC is not a customer of Dyn itself, but it does use third-party services that rely on the domain name system hosting facilities provided by Dyn.

I understand that these include Amazon Web Services - the retail giant's cloud computing division - and Fastly - a San Francisco-based firm that helps optimise page download times.

Both companies have acknowledged being disrupted by the DDoS assault. Only some BBC users, in certain locations, would have experienced problems and they did not last long.

But there are reports that other leading media providers also experienced similar disruption.

It serves as a reminder that despite the internet being a hugely robust communications system, there are still some pinch points that mean a targeted attack can cause widespread damage.

The incidents mark a change in tactics for online attackers.

DDoS attacks are typically aimed at a single website. Friday's attack on Dyn, which acts as a directory service for huge numbers of firms, affected several of the world's most popular websites at once.

The use of internet-connected home devices to send the attacking messages is also a relatively new phenomenon, but may become more common.

The Mirai software used in these attacks was released publicly in September - which means anyone with the skill could build their own attacking botnet.


On social media, many researchers and analysts expressed frustration with the security gap being exploited by attackers.

"Today we answered the question 'what would happen if we connected a vast number of cheap, crummy embedded devices to broadband networks?'" wrote Matthew Green, an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Information Security Institute.

Jeff Jarmoc, head of security for global business service Salesforce, pointed out that internet infrastructure is supposed to be more robust.

"In a relatively short time we've taken a system built to resist destruction by nuclear weapons and made it vulnerable to toasters," he tweeted.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37738823

[reece(:]

Tumblr has been targeted by hackers

THE POPULAR website Tumblr is down across Europe and United States this evening.

It is thought to be the result of an attack by hackers, however these claims are not yet verified.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2456189/tumblr-down-in-europe-and-us-following-attack-by-hackers/

[T*]

I NEED GIFS

[MB.]

Thank god this site isn't popular enough to be hacked

[Jordan.]

Tumblr has been targeted by hackers

https://secure.static.tumblr.com/36621550cfeaa8c0273fb63b78beb81b/w7fmsqi/TPkocndke/tumblr_static_tumblr_static_enqtvvf4dw8csc48gkgs0k gc8_640.jpg

[arista]

as long as it does not affect the daily mail online I can rest easy


How Nice Shaun

[arista]

Thank god this site isn't popular enough to be hacked

But it has been
when James was not Online
some years back

I had to talk with a Irish Mod Lady