By Will Sturgeon, 2 May 2000 14:45
NEWS The code for Mstream, a powerful software tool designed to take down Web sites through distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, has been posted on the Internet. A DDoS tool can remotely infect thousands of computers and use them to bombard a site with an unmanageable level of messages - overloading and disabling it. Dave Dittrich, computer administrator at the University of Washington, who has completed an analysis of Mstream said the software's strength lies in its potential to complete a successful attack with a relatively low number of host computers. Recent attacks of this kind have affected high-profile Web sites such as Amazon, CNN, eBay and Yahoo!
Comments
There is 1 comment. Join the discussion
1. anonymous
The full weight of local, national, and international law ought to be used to punish, dicourage and prohibit people creating such havoc. It is inevitable that at some time in the future one of these attacks will cost people their lives and not just an expensive interuption of a valuable service. What would people think if somebody in a car plant diliberately put a glitch in say the windscreen wipers system or worse still the braking system which failed under heavy use.