{"id":24482,"date":"2016-10-22T09:16:19","date_gmt":"2016-10-22T13:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/?p=24482"},"modified":"2016-10-22T09:26:23","modified_gmt":"2016-10-22T13:26:23","slug":"massive-ddos-attacks-swamp-the-internet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/massive-ddos-attacks-swamp-the-internet\/","title":{"rendered":"Massive DDoS attacks swamp the Internet"},"content":{"rendered":"

You may have noticed that Anglican Samizdat was down for a while yesterday. It wasn\u2019t caused by a secret cadre of clerical hackers buried deep in the bowels of 80 Hayden Street<\/a>, but by multiple distributed denial of service attacks that brought down much of the Internet in the Eastern US.<\/p>\n

Read it all here<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Friday morning is prime time for some casual news reading, tweeting, and general Internet browsing, but you may have had some trouble accessing your usual sites and services this morning and throughout the day, from Spotify and Reddit to the New York Times and even good ol\u2019 WIRED.com. For that, you can thank a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS<\/a>) that took down a big chunk of the Internet for most of the Eastern seaboard.<\/p>\n

This morning\u2019s attack started around 7 am ET and was aimed at Dyn, an Internet infrastructure company headquartered in New Hampshire. That first bout was resolved after about two hours; a second attack began just before noon. Dyn reported a third wave of attacks a little after 4 pm ET. In all cases, traffic to Dyn\u2019s Internet directory servers throughout the US\u2014primarily on the East Coast but later on the opposite end of the country as well\u2014was stopped by a flood of malicious requests from tens of millions of IP addresses disrupting the system. Late in the day, Dyn described the events as a \u201cvery sophisticated and complex attack.\u201d Still ongoing<\/a>, the situation is a definite reminder of the fragility of the web, and the power of the forces that aim to disrupt it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Coincidentally \u2013 or perhaps not \u2013 on October 1st<\/sup>, Obama transferred the last vestige of U.S. control of the Internet to a non-profit organization against the recommendation of numerous security experts:<\/p>\n

September 26, 2016<\/p>\n

Hon. Ashton B. Carter
\nSecretary of Defense The Pentagon
\nWashington, D.C. 20301<\/p>\n

General Joseph F. Dunford, Jr.
\nChairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff The Pentagon
\nWashington, D.C. 20301<\/p>\n

Dear Secretary Carter and Chairman Dunford:<\/p>\n

As individuals with extensive, first-hand experience with protecting our national security, we write to urge you to intervene in opposition to an imminent action that would, in our judgment, cause profound and irreversible damage to the United States\u2019 vital interests.<\/p>\n

On October 1st, the contract between the Commerce Department\u2019s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers<\/a> (ICANN) will expire. Upon expiration, the President will allow the Government\u2019s remaining control over the Internet to transfer to ICANN. This includes the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) function and NTIA\u2019s review of all Internet Protocol addresses and authorization for them to be placed on the authoritative root server (the A Server). In simple terms, nothing now is accessible on the Internet until it has undergone an IP address assignment and NTIA review and NTIA has authorized Verisign to post the address to the A server.<\/p>\n

The IANA function is critical to our nation\u2019s ability to effectively defend our national assets and civilian population and ensure integrity in our cyberwarfare capabilities. As Congress has considered this transfer of authority, it has stated that ICANN should ensure that .mil and .gov remain exclusive to DoD and that all IP addresses assigned to DoD are used exclusively by the Government. That ignores the fact that DoD is reliant upon private sector critical infrastructure for its operations, and the integrity and security of the IP addresses associated with these assets are equally important to the protection of the American people.<\/p>\n

In the absence of U.S. Government involvement in IANA, it seems possible that, over time, foreign powers \u2013 including potentially or actually hostile ones \u2013 will be able to influence the IANA process. Even coercing the delay in approving IP addresses could impact military capabilities. From a broader view, given the well-documented ambition of these actors to restrict freedom of expression and\/or entrepreneurial activity on the Internet, such a transfer of authority to ICANN could have far-reaching and undesirable consequences for untold numbers of people worldwide.<\/p>\n

Of more immediate concern to us, however, is the prospect that the United States might be transferring to future adversaries a capability that could facilitate, particularly in time of conflict, cyberwarfare against us. In the absence of NTIA\u2019s stewardship, we would be unable to be certain about the legitimacy of all IP addresses or whether they have been, in some form or fashion, manipulated, or compromised. Given the reliance of the U.S. military and critical infrastructure on the Internet, we must not allow it to be put needlessly at risk.<\/p>\n

Indeed, there is, to our knowledge, no compelling reason for exposing the national security to such a risk by transferring our remaining control of the Internet in this way at this time.<\/p>\n

In light of the looming deadline, we feel compelled to urge you to impress upon President Obama that the contract between NTIA and ICANN cannot be safely terminated at this point. At a minimum, given the irreversible character of this decision and its potential for grave and enduring harm to our national security and other vital interests, the decision should be delayed.<\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n

J.P. \u201cJack\u201d London
\nExecutive Chairman CACI International, Inc.<\/p>\n

Michael A. Daniels
\nFormer Chairman, Network Solutions<\/p>\n

Jody R. Westby
\nCEO, Global Cyber Risk LLC and
\nFormer Chief Administrative Officer & Counsel, In-Q-Tel<\/p>\n

Adm. James A. \u201cAce\u201d Lyons, USN (Ret.) Former Commander-in-Chief
\nU.S. Pacific Fleet<\/p>\n

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.
\nFormer Assistant Secretary of Defense (Acting)<\/p>\n

Lt. Gen. William \u201cJerry\u201d Boykin, USA (Ret.)
\nFormer Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence<\/p>\n

Hon. Pete Hoekstra
\nFormer Chairman, House Intelligence Committee<\/p>\n

Oliver \u201cBuck\u201d Revell
\nAssociate Deputy Director (Ret.) Federal Bureau of Investigation<\/p>\n

Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney, USAF (Ret.)
\nFormer Deputy Chief of Staff, United States Air Force<\/p>\n

Hon. Michelle Van Cleave
\nFormer Counter-Intelligence Executive<\/p>\n

Rep. Brian Babin (TX-36)
\nChairman, House of Representatives\u2019 Committee on Science Space and Technology Subcommittee<\/p>\n

Hon. Jon Kyl
\nFormer Senate Minority Whip<\/p>\n

Dr. Lani Kass
\nFormer Director, Air Force Chief of Staff\u2019s Cyber Task Force<\/p>\n

Hon. Charles E. Allen
\nFormer Under Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security for Intelligence and Analysis<\/p>\n

Lt. Gen. C. E. McKnight, Jr., USA (Ret.)
\nFormer Director, Command and Control Systems for Nuclear Forces, Joint Chiefs of Staff<\/p>\n

Hon. John G. Grimes
\nFormer Assistant Secretary, Networks & Information Integration and
\nDoD, Chief Information Officer<\/p>\n

Lt. Gen. Robert J. Elder, USAF (Ret.)
\nFormer Commander, U.S. Air Force Network Operations<\/p>\n

Rep. Dave Brat (VA-7)<\/p>\n

Vice Adm. Robert R. Monroe, USN (Ret.)
\nFormer Director, Defense Nuclear Agency<\/p>\n

Maj. Gen. Henry Canterbury, USAF (Ret.)
\nFormer Operations and Readiness, Air Staff Pentagon<\/p>\n

Daniel J. Gallington
\nFormer General Counsel Senate Select Committee on Intelligence<\/p>\n

Maj. Gen. Harold \u201cPunch\u201d Moulton, USAF (Ret.)
\nFormer Director of Operations, U.S. European Command<\/p>\n

Maj. Gen. Kenneth R. Israel, USAF (Ret.)
\nFormer Director of Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office<\/p>\n

Andrew McCarthy
\nFormer Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Southern District of New York<\/p>\n

Hon. Paula A. DeSutter
\nFormer Assistant Secretary of State and Professional Staff Member, U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence<\/p>\n

Rear Adm. Philip S. Anselmo, USN (Ret.)
\nFormer Director of Command Control Communications Computers and Intelligence (C4I)<\/p>\n

Rear Adm. Pierce J. Johnson, USN (Ret.)
\nFormer Chief of Staff, U.S. Regional Headquarters, Lisbon (Portugal)<\/p>\n

Lt. Gen. C. Norman Wood, USAF (Ret.)
\nFormer Director, Intelligence Community Staff<\/p>\n

Dan Goure
\nFormer Director of the Office of Strategic Competitiveness in the Office of the Secretary of Defense<\/p>\n

Thomas H. Handel
\nFormer Executive Director, Naval Information Warfare Activity (now Navy Cyber Warfare Development Group)<\/p>\n

Vice Adm. Edward W. Clexton, Jr., USN (Ret.)
\nFormer Deputy Commander, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, Commander, Carrier Strike Group, and Deputy Commander in Chief, US Naval and Marine Forces, Europe<\/p>\n

Vice Adm. Jerry L. Unruh, USN (Ret.)
\nFormer Commander, U.S. Third Fleet<\/p>\n

Rear Adm. Albert A. Gallotta, Jr., USN (Ret.)
\nVice Commander, Naval Electronics Systems Command<\/p>\n

Rear Adm. H. Winsor Whiton, USN (Ret.)
\nFormer Commander of the Naval Security Group and former Deputy Director of the National Security Agency for Plans, Policy, and Programs<\/p>\n

Lt. Gen. Bennett L. Lewis, USA (Ret.)
\nFormer Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Mobilization and Director, Defense Mobilization Systems Planning Activity<\/p>\n

Lt. Gen. Tex Brown, USAF (Ret.)
\nFormer Assistant Vice Chief of Staff, U.S. Air Force<\/p>\n

Rear. Adm. Charles R. Kubic, CEC, USN (Ret.)
\nFormer Commander, First Naval Construction Division<\/p>\n

Rear Adm. Phillip R. Olson, USN (Ret.)
\nFormer President of the U.S. Navy Board of Inspection and Safety<\/p>\n

Victoria Coates
\nNational Security Advisor to Sen. Ted Cruz<\/p>\n

Morgan Wright
\nSenior Fellow, Center for Digital Government<\/p>\n

Mike Steinmetz
\nPresident & CEO, Digital Executive LTD<\/p>\n

Brig. Gen. Peyton Cole, USAF (Ret.)
\nFormer Executive Secretary, U.S. Department of Defense<\/p>\n

Capt. David E. Meadows, USN (Ret.)
\nFormer Deputy Commander Naval Security Group<\/p>\n

Capt. Scott W. Witt, USN (Ret.)
\nFormer Chief, Weapons and Space, National Security Agency<\/p>\n

Capt. Michael Sare, USN (Ret.)
\nFormer Navy Cryptologist \/ Cyber Warfare Officer<\/p>\n

Katherine C. Gorka
\nPresident, Council on Global Security<\/p>\n

Col. R. J. Peppe, USAF (Ret.)
\nFormer Chief, Selection Board Secretariat<\/p>\n

Michael J. Jacobs
\nFormer Information Assurance Director, NSA<\/p>\n

Gwyn Whittaker
\nFormer CEO, Mosaic, Inc.<\/p>\n

Lynn Schnurr
\nFormer Army Chief Information Officer and Defense Intelligence Senior Executive Service<\/p>\n

Frederick Fleitz
\nSenior VP, Center for Security Policy and former CIA Analyst<\/p>\n

Daniel J. Bongino
\nFormer Secret Service Agency, Presidential Protection Division<\/p>\n

Col. F. E. Peck, USAF (Ret.)<\/p>\n

Lt. Col. Jim Webster, USAF (Ret.)<\/p>\n

Lt. Col. Floyd H. Damschen, USAF (Ret.)<\/p>\n

Col. Raymond C. Maestrelli, DDS USAF (Ret.)<\/p>\n

Col. Ed Leonard, USAF (Ret.)<\/p>\n

Maj. Gen. Gary L. Harrell, USA (Ret.)<\/p>\n

Christian Whiton
\nFormer State Department Senior Advisor<\/p>\n

Maj. Gen. John Miller, USAF (Ret.)<\/p>\n

Maj. Gen. Timothy A. Peppe, USAF (Ret.)<\/p>\n

Col. Richard W. Dillon, USA (Ret.)<\/p>\n

Lt. Col. Ronald King, USA (Ret.)<\/p>\n

David P. Goldman
\nColumnist, Asia Times and PJ Media Capt.<\/p>\n

James H. Hardaway, USN (Ret.)<\/p>\n

Lt. Gen. Gordon E. Fornell, USAF (Ret.)<\/p>\n

Rear Adm. Thomas F. Brown III, USN (Ret.)<\/p>\n

Col. Daniel Pierre, USAF (Ret.)<\/p>\n

S.C. Robinson, Ret.
\nSection Manager, Y-12 National Security Complex<\/p>\n

Richard T. Witton, Jr. (Ret.)<\/p>\n

Col. Michael R. Cook (Ret.)<\/p>\n

Roger Kimball Editor and author<\/p>\n

Larry Cox
\nPresident, Western Slopes Security Services<\/p>\n

Angie Lienert
\nPresident & CEO, IntelliGenesis LLC<\/p>\n

Col. Willard Snell, USAF (Ret.)<\/p>\n

David Winks
\nManaging Director, AcquSight, Inc.<\/p>\n

Maj. Gen. Michael Snodgrass, USAF (Ret.)<\/p>\n

Kevin D. Freeman
\nFounder, NSIC Institute<\/p>\n

Lieutenant Colonel Allen B. West (USA, Ret)
\nMember, 112th US Congress
\nExecutive Director, National Center for Policy Analysis<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You may have noticed that Anglican Samizdat was down for a while yesterday. It wasn\u2019t caused by a secret cadre of clerical hackers buried deep in the bowels of 80 Hayden Street, but by multiple distributed denial of service attacks … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[186],"tags":[2400],"class_list":["post-24482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-internet","tag-ddos-attack"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24482\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}