DoS attacks and International Tension
Last May during a protested movement of a World War II soviet statue, Estonian governmental and political sites were flooded in a series of Denial of Service (DoS) attacks. These attacks consisted of hammering the sites servers with requests till they crash or shut down. While investigating, Estonia blamed the attacks on the Russian government, increasing the political tension between the two countries. Today, a twenty year old Estonian was fined for organizing some of the attacks.
Many Estonians of Russian decent were angered last May at the movement of the statues and there many rioted. A DoS attack perhaps was also used as a form of retaliation because of its relative ease. Whereas an attack on government building is easily caught, an attack over the internet can be easier to do and much harder to trace.
It isn’t clear what sort of protection these servers had from such attacks. However, preventing a DoS attack is difficult. While servers can be made to shut down more gracefully when attacked, it is hard to prevent denial of service. Firewalls and filters can help as well but they can keep out legitimate use of a site as well as attacks. The best solution seems to be preparedness. Quick detection and intervention of an attack occurring can allow more evidence to identify the offending party quicker. That coupled with high fines can also probably deter more attacks.
What is most interesting is the political side to these attacks. Cyber attacks can be used as a vector to make political statements as well as exacerbate political situations. The internet is a different and convenient medium for malicious groups wanting to increase political tensions or perhaps even start a war. For something with such impact it is surprising that these attacks are not so well protected against.
http://politics.slashdot.org/politics/08/01/25/0120221.shtml
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/technology/tech-estonia-cybertrial.html?scp=2&sq=estonia&st=nyt
Comment by mgklous
January 25, 2008 @ 5:34 pm
Here are a few links to other recent incidents of cyberwarfare.
12/27/07 China behind massive global cyber invasions
http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?id=13283
01/18/08 CIA Admits Cyberattacks Blacked Out Cities
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=205901631
09/26/07 Staged cyber attack reveals vulnerability in power grid
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/26/power.at.risk/index.html
joyleung points out that the internet and cyberwarfare can be used to make political statements. The articles I listed demonstrate that cyberwarfare can be much more serious, and an article at http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-hollis8oct08,0,5897172.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail suggests that international cyberattacks are an act of war.
Comment by imv
January 26, 2008 @ 6:21 pm
The first article posted by MGKLOUS above is interesting because accusations against the Chinese government for being involved in cyber-spying/attacks has not deterred their actions, which raises the issue of how to respond. Should we do the same and learn how to cripple their systems in time of war or confrontation, as they are doing? How do we hold them accountable? Their actions are fairly overt, so it doesn’t seem we can shame them into changing their behavior. At least there will continue to be employment for CS-majors 🙂