Cyber Attacks Becoming More Common

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It seems that the response to WikiLeaks and the arrest of Julian Assange has opened the flood gates for hackers who wish to openly attack any site they disagree with. On the heels of Visa, Mastercard and now threat of a pending attack on Bank of America, hackers are now targeting human rights group websites.

No one is safe online anymore. As the technique becomes more widespread, many internet-based campaigning groups are experiencing shut downs of their sites from hacker activity that is taking, in some cases, weeks to resolve. Groups with meager resources to begin with are now tasked with having to scramble to beef up their defenses against cyber attacks.

The Berkman Center for Internet and Society, which operates out of Harvard University, say that their research shows that between August 2009 and September 2010, 280 different sites were attacked. That number is sure to be much higher for the comparable timeframe beginning October 2010. The Berkman Center further clarified that there were many more attacks that went unreported during that period.

The most common type of attack currently being experienced ...
... are DDos attacks, otherwise known as a Distributed Denial of Service. This is when a company’s website is made inaccessible by such an overwhelming load of requests for access that the system is unable to cope and just shuts down. Since this type of attack looks like normal traffic, albeit at a higher volume, it is difficult for websites to detect them or for companies to implement measures to deal with them. By the time it is detected, it has already been successful.

DDos cyber tactics work because in effect, they prevent genuine users, such as clients from accessing the company, which can have a deep financial impact for the institution depending on how long it takes for them to resolve the issue. Normally cyber attacks have been directed big businesses or government websites, especially after an election. However, the recent attacks on companies that are stereotypically associated with ‘little guy’ causes is a new phenomenon. Could we possibly be seeing what the next chapter in the development of the internet is going to read like?

In the case of these cash strapped human rights groups website, interrupting business will not take much. In fact these sites probably don’t pay close to even a hundred bucks for their ‘security features’. All hackers would have to do is disrupt them often enough to get them kicked off their ISPs. This would keep leave them always searching for a new host, which isn’t that easy to find.

The tool used by Anonymous, the loose group behind the attacks in defense of WikiLeaks, is LOIC. Since their attacks, LOIC has been downloaded over 46000 times.

The new rulers of the game are being written as we speak. The need to communicate with the publicâ€both online and offlineâ€is going to be even more important for businesses operating online. Intensive Public Relations efforts and embracing common causes might be one way for online businesses to manage their image and provide extra security against hacktivism. A significant, positive online presence through social media outlets in the service of openly communicating with consumers will become even more vital to e-businesses than it has been.

In time, new, more sophisticated technologies will be developed to detect the current tactics of cyber activists. Hopefully, the trend will decrease in the coming months as WikiLeaks fades from the headlines.