Akamai Service Blocked for Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo

Botnet Used in DDoS Attack on DNS Servers

On June 15, 2004, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack targeted the Akamai DNS servers and brought down service to many Akamai-hosted websites. The powerful attack blocked almost all access to four major websites: Apple Computer, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo. One would think that such big companies must have bulletproof security, but this event proved otherwise.

The attack targeted the Akamai Domain Name System (DNS) and managed to render the servers unusable for legitimate requests coming from Akamai's clients. The DNS translates friendly domain names (like google.com) into numeric data used by the Internet. If the DNS goes down, the entire network falls.

A DDoS attack is like a Denial of Service (DoS) attack, only there are hundreds or thousands of computers sending requests to the server. The hacker used a bot network to deliver his deadly strike. A bot network is made up of hundreds or thousands of computers that are enslaved and controlled by the attacker. The malicious software used to build the botnet and take over computer systems is known as a Trojan horse. After the infection, the Trojan works silently in the background, letting the attacker send commands to the system.

In the attack on Akamai, experts say that the bot network was very large. All of the infected computers sent "legitimate" network requests to the server at the same time, causing the server to be overloaded with data. The Akamai DNS servers could not service most server requests for about 2 hours. Akamai had more than 14,000 servers in 1,100 networks in 65 countries and a huge distributed computing platform.

On 24th October 2006, a Florida man was accused of launching the attack on Akamai. According to the FBI, a man named John Bombard, age 32, used a modified version of GAOBOT worm to deliver his attack. The bot network Bombard created also included the computers of two major universities. The hacker directed the strike from a computer located on his domain.

It is clear that DDoS attacks are getting more sophisticated due to newly surfaced computer viruses. Also, there is an increase in the number of Distributed Denial of Service attacks all over the world. In spite of many high end protection methods, the vast majority of DNS servers continue to be vulnerable to a DDoS attack. The strike on Akamai showed the world that the Internet is a dangerous place and that any network, no matter how well protected, can be the subject of such cyber attacks.

Source: The Register

About Secure64 Software Corporation
Secure64® is a software developer providing highly secure DNS and server applications with built-in denial-of-service protection features to help ensure your Internet-dependent business is always accessible. Based on the genuinely secure SourceT® microOS, Secure64 DNS remains highly available during network attacks and is immune to compromise from rootkits and malware.

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