On October 10, 2003, a Distributed Denial of Service attack targeted the Domain Name Service (DNS) servers at Speedera. The attack blocked many sites hosted by Speedera for approximately one hour. Amazon.com and the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security (www.dhs.gov) were both unavailable during the event.
The attack was focused on RapidSatellite.com. The company defended itself by moving its online store to Speedera. The hackers then targeted the DNS servers at Speedera just to bring down RapidSatellite.com. Speedera was harmed (along with many of its customers) only because it hosted the website that was the primary target of the DDoS attack.
A DDoS attack uses a network of thousands of enslaved computers (robots). All the computers are controlled by the hacker, who uses some kind of virus to infect unsecured systems. When the cyber attacker gives the order, all the robots send a tidalwave of requests to the targeted server. The huge amount of simultaneous requests floods the DNS servers. As long as the DDoS keeps going, all websites served by the victim's content delivery systems are degraded or unreachable.
The harms in this story came about because one selfish businessman wanted to get rid of his competitors. He contracted the hit on RapidSatellite.com from a ddos-for-hire specialist. The hacker used multiple methods, including "botnets" to overload widely-used servers. According to the FBI, competitive attacks are becoming more popular. Fortunately, both businessman and hacker have been exposed.
Source: SecurityFocus
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.