Connected

Digital Attack Map

Is all of the hype true?  Are we really under a cyber-attack?  Do we truly need to fear a digital attack?  Yes!  I recently ran across the digital attack map, which I think helps to demonstrate the very real threat, which we all live under.

[hana-code-insert name=’CyberFrontPage’ /]

I often talk about cyber-attacks; but I believe it is at times difficult, to accurately understand the amount of digital assaults that are underway, at any given moment.  The attack map, brought to us by Arbor Networks and Google, helps us to visualize the true nature of cyber war.

Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) is alive and well, and continues to be a serious threat to the Internet.   While cross-site scripting and SQL injection attacks, against applications, remain serious and frequent threats; DDOS has emerged as a grave danger against all internet users, being cited by many of the top security firms and companies, which are trying to protect their client’s data, as a pressing concern.  DDOS not only impacts businesses, but everyday users, like you and me.

In one of the largest reported DDOS attacks that happened in March of 2013, we saw hactivitsts use misconfigured open DNS resolvers. (DNS translates domain names to IP addresses. Open DNS resolvers provide names to IP addresses to anyone on the Internet).  The cyber criminals used Open DNS resolvers to digitally attack Spamhaus, who blacklisted a company called Cyberbunker.   Cyberbunker is an Internet Service Provider (ISP) who affords services to “anyone except child pornographers and terrorists”.  (It is nice to know that everyone has limits.) What is significant about this attack, other than being the largest to date, is that you had a company proclaim war, on another company; and the digital war impacted more than just the company that was the intended target.  Ultimately, the internet slowed for European users, as well.  The other interesting note about the Spamhaus attack is that recently a sixteen year old boy, was also arrested in London, in connection with the cyberattack.  So while a Dutchman launched the attack, against a company in Switzerland, a boy in London became a cyber war profiteer.  We see the lines of war collapsing, where no longer is warfare only between nations; now individuals can declare war on companies and solicit help from anyone with a computer.

The digital attack map is able to historically show DDOS events.  Updated daily, the digital map not only shows current information, but also past attacks, which include Source and Destination IP addresses, or which country the attacks are coming from and who is being attacked.  Every one with a computer has a Source IP, but there are programs, which can hide your address; thus there are instances, on the map, that the Source and Destination of the attack are unknown.

A timeline of DDOS attacks is shown at the bottom of the world map.  An individual can move the time line to any given date, which then gives a list of attacks and the size of the attack, as well.  Being able to understand events as they are happening and also see trending can help prepare the one who is being attacked.

While writing this article, I picked October 29^th, on the timeline, beneath the world map, where there appeared to be a lot of traffic.  On October 29^th, Israel was hit by a cyberattack, which caused their national road to be shut down in Northern Haifa.  An attack on their security cameras caused a twenty minute lock down of the roadway.  The next day, the same attack occurred on the security cameras, during rush hour, which caused the road way to be shut down for eight hours.  The attack becomes even more interesting because the section of the road way that was shut down, included a tunnel, which is a major land mark and is in consideration to be public shelter, in emergency, such as a missile attack, for the third largest city in Israel, which is Haifa. The Israeli military chief, Lt. General Benny Gantz, stated that; “a sophisticated cyberattack could one day bring the nation to a standstill.” http://tinyurl.com/l77an9n

Today, we see global warfare, on a whole new scale, digitally, and without borders.  One computer, can simulate thousands of users, in the comfort of your home, attacking a company, just because you are not happy with their policies.  The internet gives everyone a voice, unlike in the past when only the select few had the platform.

The digital attack map is a great view of cyber warfare yesterday and today.  It is important to realize that the digital highway, of communication, can be interrupted enough to bring us all to a jarring halt, in one very large traffic jam.  It is possible to one day not to be connected.

This entry was posted on December 15, 2013 at 12:55 am and is filed under Connected, RightSide, SlideShow. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.