WSJ: Gamers Responsible for DDOS Attack (10/24/16)

[UK2K]

So, I'm not a techie by any means... I attended LAN parties in school with some super nerdy kids who were really ****ing good with computers. So good, in fact, that one kid received a bad grade from our art teacher (who was this hairy, stinky, feminist type) so he somehow managed to get into the school's database and erase everyone's submitted grades for the semester.

He spent the rest of the year at the alternative school. Last I saw, he was working for some IT security firm.

Outside of knowing someone who knows how to do that, this all seems absolutely insane:

[QUOTE]The computerized attack that left more than 1,200 websites unreachable on Friday stemmed from efforts, years earlier, by players of online games to frustrate and slow their opponents, security experts say. The massive denial-of-service attack was launched from thousands of internet-connected devices, including cameras, video recorders and routers. It overwhelmed computer servers at Dynamic Network Services Inc., also known as Dyn, which plays a crucial role in connecting users to websites. Popular sites including Twitter Inc. and Netflix Inc. were unreachable for parts of Friday. On Saturday, Dyn said the attack had ended, though it continued to investigate the causes.

Several security experts say the computer instructions for the attack had been refined from code written by disaffected videogame players calling themselves Lizard Squad who launched attacks on Christmas Day 2014 against online-game services operated by Sony Corp. and Microsoft Corp. Since then, the experts said, the code and hacking techniques have been passed around and made more powerful.

Friday

[bdreason]

I'm no hacker, but from what I know DDOS attacks aren't terribly difficult to execute.

[UK2K]

I'm no hacker, but from what I know DDOS attacks aren't terribly difficult to execute.

Difficult enough to where you can 'sell' an attack to someone.

Random question.... why would big companies with top notch IT security need to pay someone to DDOS attack themselves? Couldn't they just do it?

[FillJackson]

Difficult enough to where you can 'sell' an attack to someone.

Random question.... why would big companies with top notch IT security need to pay someone to DDOS attack themselves? Couldn't they just do it?

You would pay to see what the new techniques are and how you defend yourself against them. You pay to find out if your are keeping up.


The unusual thing about this attack is it mainly wasn't computers. DVRs and routers and Smart TVs and shit like that, that you don't think of as a computer. This was new.

Apprently the source code for how to do a monster DVR/router attackbot was put online a few months ago.