5 ms·

How long could this go on for?

cryptoz 10y ago
This particular attack will likely eventually be mitigated (hours? days?). But it seems there is nothing preventing similar attacks from starting at any time, and be less possible to prevent each time. Personally, I fear we are closer to global-scale, machine-learning-based attacks that find vulnerabilities, exploit them, and change patterns on the fly. We may not have a stable internet any more. Am I blindly fearmongering? I hope not. But these are new waters. Insecure IoT is growing every hour and there's no clear path to stop it from being exploited more and more.
- leephillips 10y ago
  Trying to fight a war purely with defense is usually a dangerous strategy. The only long-term solution is to find the attackers and take them out.
  - tunesmith 10y ago
    That's irony, right? I can't even tell anymore.
    - gtirloni 10y ago
      Microsoft has had an active role in taking down botnets. https://krebsonsecurity.com/2012/03/microsoft-takes-down-dozens-of-zeus-spyeye-botnets/ https://krebsonsecurity.com/2012/03/microsoft-takes-down-doz...
    - mancerayder 10y ago
      "War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength."?
    - sosuke 10y ago
      I do remember something about a virus that patched the computers it infected. White hat virus!
    - leephillips 10y ago
      No, not irony. Our infrastructure is under attack. Why not fight back?
      - solipsism 10y ago
        Based on what international laws? The source is likely in a country that doesn't play nice with our law enforcement and extradition requests. So what are you advocating?
        leephillips 10y ago
        Wait until they take that relaxing foreign vacation after all their hard work.
        briandear 10y ago
        Cut their internet access. Take down their power grid. If you're being attacked, I'm not sure what international law has to do with it. A country has the right to defend itself -- it doesn't require the UN to grant 'permission.' If you are in the midst of being attacked, waiting for the UN or some other disfunctional body to 'approve' would be like asking the teacher for permission to defend yourself while you're getting your face pounded in. Countries are sovereign. They shouldn't need permission to defend themselves when they are under an immediate threat.
        solipsism 10y ago
        Your Netflix stopped working. You're talking about going to war. If you're being attacked, I'm not sure what international law has to do with it. That's incredibly naive. Trumpian almost. Even in the midst of real war (you know, when people are dying, not sitting on the couch unable to place a Prime order), we follow international law. Because we want everyone else to as well.
  - tedmiston 10y ago
    Let's build a botnet to DDoS the DDoS botnet. /s /kinda
    - cm2187 10y ago
      ...or simply send a few hackers to Guantanamo!
  - alexbeloi 10y ago
    Except other adversarial technology domains like encryption or spamming where defensive technologies are extremely good when used and 'finding the attackers and taking them out' is ridiculously impractical.
    - empath75 10y ago
      Might not be wildly impractical to brick insecure iot devices.
codecamper 10y ago
Not fully understanding TCP/IP, but could routers installed at ISPs disallow direct traffic to mid-point infrastructure? I mean.. only allow traffic from/to leaf nodes.
- consto 10y ago
  Sure they could, it's called disconnecting your internet connection, unless you are arguing for every ISP to implement some sort of proxy, which itself would be mid-point infrastructure.

This particular attack will likely eventually be mitigated (hours? days?). But it seems there is nothing preventing similar attacks from starting at any time, and be less possible to prevent each time. Personally, I fear we are closer to global-scale, machine-learning-based attacks that find vulnerabilities, exploit them, and change patterns on the fly. We may not have a stable internet any more. Am I blindly fearmongering? I hope not. But these are new waters. Insecure IoT is growing every hour and there's no clear path to stop it from being exploited more and more.

leephillips 10y ago
Trying to fight a war purely with defense is usually a dangerous strategy. The only long-term solution is to find the attackers and take them out.
- tunesmith 10y ago
  That's irony, right? I can't even tell anymore.
  - gtirloni 10y ago
    Microsoft has had an active role in taking down botnets. https://krebsonsecurity.com/2012/03/microsoft-takes-down-dozens-of-zeus-spyeye-botnets/ https://krebsonsecurity.com/2012/03/microsoft-takes-down-doz...
  - mancerayder 10y ago
    "War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength."?
  - sosuke 10y ago
    I do remember something about a virus that patched the computers it infected. White hat virus!
  - leephillips 10y ago
    No, not irony. Our infrastructure is under attack. Why not fight back?
    - solipsism 10y ago
      Based on what international laws? The source is likely in a country that doesn't play nice with our law enforcement and extradition requests. So what are you advocating?
      - leephillips 10y ago
        Wait until they take that relaxing foreign vacation after all their hard work.
      - briandear 10y ago
        Cut their internet access. Take down their power grid. If you're being attacked, I'm not sure what international law has to do with it. A country has the right to defend itself -- it doesn't require the UN to grant 'permission.' If you are in the midst of being attacked, waiting for the UN or some other disfunctional body to 'approve' would be like asking the teacher for permission to defend yourself while you're getting your face pounded in. Countries are sovereign. They shouldn't need permission to defend themselves when they are under an immediate threat.
        solipsism 10y ago
        Your Netflix stopped working. You're talking about going to war. If you're being attacked, I'm not sure what international law has to do with it. That's incredibly naive. Trumpian almost. Even in the midst of real war (you know, when people are dying, not sitting on the couch unable to place a Prime order), we follow international law. Because we want everyone else to as well.
- tedmiston 10y ago
  Let's build a botnet to DDoS the DDoS botnet. /s /kinda
  - cm2187 10y ago
    ...or simply send a few hackers to Guantanamo!
- alexbeloi 10y ago
  Except other adversarial technology domains like encryption or spamming where defensive technologies are extremely good when used and 'finding the attackers and taking them out' is ridiculously impractical.
  - empath75 10y ago
    Might not be wildly impractical to brick insecure iot devices.

codecamper 10y ago

Not fully understanding TCP/IP, but could routers installed at ISPs disallow direct traffic to mid-point infrastructure? I mean.. only allow traffic from/to leaf nodes.

consto 10y ago
Sure they could, it's called disconnecting your internet connection, unless you are arguing for every ISP to implement some sort of proxy, which itself would be mid-point infrastructure.