As some may have noticed, over the past two weeks, many Vietnamese news sites have been slow or inaccessible. Hacker Vietnam Online (HVA) has announced that they have found the source of the constant stream of denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.
According to HVA’s Facebook page, while the attacks have ceased, a resumption of digital hostilities is imminent, “Even though the servers currently remain inactive, that they will be reactivated is certain.”
DDoS attacks, popularized by the hacker collective, Anonymous, constantly send requests to the target server with the purpose of overloading and, in turn, shutting down websites. Such attacks are typically performed by a number of computers, working together to create a botnet – think zombie army.
Tuoi Tre is reporting that the DDos attacks shut down its online editions - Tuoi Tre News, Tuoi Tre Online, Tuoi Tre Mobile and Tuoi Tre TV - as well as several other Vietnamese newswires including Vietnamnet, Dan Tri, and Kenh14.
HVA warns that this is just the beginning and the sites should expect a resumption of hostilities in the future, “The victims should strengthen their Internet infrastructure as well as human resources to be well-prepared for future attacks.”
Nguyen Hong Phuc, a member of HVA, speaking to VietnamPlus, said that the Vietnamese online community helped determine the origin of the attacks.
While the motives are unclear, HVA has traced some of the attacks back to a Germany company and have contacted them to report the malicious activity on their servers.
[Tuoi Tre]
