Attacking the infrastructure
Last week, some of the worlds biggest websites were knocked offline when hackers launched a denial of service attack against the Dyn DNS servers.
DNS is the system which converts domain names into the numerical addresses used on the internet. It is an essential part of the internet infrastructure. If someone wants to visit your website, their browser needs to use DNS to find the IP number of its web server. If someone wants to send you an email, their email program uses DNS to look up your domain name and find the IP number of your email servers. One of the larger providers of managed DNS services is Dyn, and it was Dyn which was the victim of a massive denial of service attack.
Compromised systems from all over the world were used by hackers to send billions of DNS requests to Dyn, completely overwhelming its DNS servers, and leaving it unable to respond to most of the genuine DNS requests. The knock-on effect was that web services which rely on Dyn were also knocked offline, including Twitter, Spotify, Github, Reddit, and some Amazon services. Other sites, including the BBC website, were disrupted to an extent because they use third-party services which depend upon Dyn, as were countless smaller sites.
In the post mortem of the attack, security researchers say the attack was a distributed denial of service which made use of compromised devices from across the globe. We have often seen hackers launch denial of service attacks using infected PCs and laptops, but the Dyn attack went further and made use of millions of so-called "Internet of Things" (IOT) devices, the smart devices which are increasingly finding their way into our homes and offices, and onto our home networks, often with little thought given to the security aspects. It looks like the Dyn attack enslaved devices such as routers, internet-connected CCTV cameras, and internet-connected printers.
A group calling itself New World Hackers with members thought to be in China, Russia, and India has claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying it was a "capability test", but it will likely take years to verify the details and track them down. One outcome before then may be increased regulation of IOT security requirements, and increased pressure on infrastructure providers to implement tougher security systems.
Not all attackers are high tech though. Virgin Media's broadband around Telford was sluggish recently, and solved when a passer by spotted smoke coming from one of its street cabinets. Engineers discovered snails had infested the box and shorted out the power supply with slime. Virgin Media apologised to customers for the "sticky situation".
26th October 2016
This article comes from the SKILLZONE email newsletter, published monthly since January 2008, and covering topics related to technology and the internet. All articles and artwork in the SKILLZONE newsletter are orignal content.