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Re: Mega DOS tomorrow?

  • From: Elvedin Trnjanin
  • Date: Wed Aug 25 15:20:36 2004

>
>
> So, slashdot is linking to some news sites that are reporting that
> Aleksandr Gostev from Kapersky Labs in Russia has predicted that a large
> chunk of the net will be shut down tomorrow.
>
> I thought the ISC comment was pretty funny:
>
> http://isc.sans.org/diary.php
> --
> e-Jihad Begins Thursday, Internet Predicted to Melt Down by Mid-day
>
> You should probably starting backing up that gig of gmail to local
> storage. According to a Russian news site, Kaspersky Labs states that
> terrorists will launch attacks which will paralyze the Internet this
> Thursday. This tragically coincides with two weeks of script kiddie
> attacks (which were scheduled to begin this past Sunday) aimed at
> disrupting the Republican national convention. In addition, many college
> students are back on campus this week, which provides the e-terrorists and
> i-subversives with a veritable candyland of insecure boxes on big pipes.
> Faced with this triple threat, our beloved Internet will surely fall.
>
> The ISC would like to go out on a limb and predict that the Internet will
> not vaporize into a cloud of nothingness this Thursday, but if it does,
> it's been our pleasure to help stave off its inevitable annihilation this
> long.
> --
>
> Andy
>


Should have kept reading...

Reply by Handyman (97520) -
"Kaspersky labs says they were misquoted. Quoting from a mail from
kaspersky labs themselves (as found in a repost on the NTBugtraq mailing
list):

A handful of sites are stating that Eugene Kaspersky, founder of Kaspersky
Labs, believes that tomorrow will bring a massive terrorist attack on the
Internet. This is being quoted in a range of ways, ranging from factual
reporting to citing the story as an example of cyber hysteria.

However, Kaspersky is not predicting the end of the Internet tomorrow - or
even in the near future. The story stems from brief comments made
yesterday at a press conference which was dedicated to cybercrime and the
problems of spam.

At this press conference, Kaspersky commented that the possibility of
terrorists using the Internet as a tool to attack certain countries as a
reality. As an example, he cited the fact that a number of Arabic and
Hebrew language websites contained an announcement of an 'electronic
jihad' against Israel, to start on 26th August 2004.

In an interview today, Kaspersky stressed that such information was not
necessarily trustworthy. 'We don't know who is behind these statements.'
He went on to clarify: 'It's not the first time the term 'electronic
jihad' has been used. We've seen this before, with the focus being on
sending racist emails, and defacing and hacking Israeli web sites. But it
is the first time I have seen sites encouraging the use of Internet
attacks against one country as a form of terrorism.'

'As we've already stated many times in the past, it would be easy enough
to use a network of infected computers to launch such an attack. We saw
the impact that Sasser, Mydoom and Slammer had, on the Internet,
businesses and organisations. Just imagine if such an attack was directed
at one country or one critical point in the infrastructure of the
Internet. Computers are a tool - and just like any tool, they can be used
or misused.'

Kaspersky emphasised that the likelihood of a massive attack directed
against Israeli institutions tomorrow is low. However, he believes that
Pandora's box has now been opened. Hackers and virus writers can be
motivated by a range of factors: money, curiosity, or political
conviction. But whatever their motivation, the insecure nature of the
Internet and weak security precautions offer a wealth of opportunities.
'Maybe it won't be tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow - but sooner or
later, terrorists will be using the Internet as another weapon in their
arsenal.'"

-- 
- ODS.org Team

Elvedin Trnjanin
[email protected]
http://www.ods.org