Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : Laughter is the Best Medicine - Tell us a joke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Edwarda who wrote (13784)	3/14/2000 3:33:00 PM
From: Karen Lawrence	Respond to of 62558

Edwarda, another Bushism - He said he "won't drive the military like a rental car."

To: Edwarda who wrote (13784)	3/15/2000 3:37:00 PM
From: SIer formerly known as Joe B.	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 62558

FBI Web site attacked WASHINGTON, March 15 (UPI) -- There has been another "denial of service" cyber-attack against a high-profile Web site, sources told UPI Wednesday -- this time the target was the FBI's own Web page, which was taken out of action for several hours Tuesday. The attack hit just as the FBI was posting information about the 50th anniversary of its "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" list, which was celebrated Tuesday at the bureau with the opening of a permanent headquarters exhibit. A "denial of service" attack overwhelms a Web site with requests for information, but with "spoofed" -- fabricated -- return e-mail addresses. A site tries to endlessly answer the requests, and in effect ties itself in knots until it shuts down. There was no indication yet on whether Tuesday's cyber-attack was a "distributed" denial of service attack, similar to those launched against major commerical sites on the Internet early last month. Those attacks temporarily crippled Yahoo!, E-Trade, CNN.com and others. U.S. investigators were still pursuing leads on the latest attack Wednesday, defining its nature. A "distributed" attack is one which uses "innocent" third-party computer systems. Illegal hackers, called "crackers," usually find the attack software "tools" available "in the wild" on the Internet. The "distributed denial of service," or DDOS, tools enable a cracker to break into an unsuspecting computer system and implant "packets" or "daemons" that will cause the system to launch an attack against a target unless detected and disabled in time. Literally hundreds of "zombie" computer systems can be infected, without their operators' knowledge, and can launch a simultaneous attack. The FBI is still searching for at least two unnamed suspects in February's attacks. Much of the search has been concentrated in Canada with the help of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Agents are also concentrating on Germany, where the DDOS "tools" may have originated, though Germany is not believed to be the country of origin for the actual attacks. There was no immediate indication Wednesday that the attack on the FBI site came from the same suspects wanted for the attacks on the commerical sites. -0-