3 ms·

I would suspect extortion. Pay us or we DDOS you offline.

by api 6y ago

antpls 6y ago
I believe that sort of attack can't be achieved repeatedly. These attacks leave traces and clues behind them, and investigators are able to better pinpoint and protect for the next one. I heard they also can't be sustained for a long time. I believe they are more like an attempt to discover limits in the network or some targeted systems. Some systems are also vulnerable while they reboot, so attackers only need a one-time reboot.
- Red_Leaves_Flyy 6y ago
  Not an authority or expert in any fields of discussion itt From what I've been told, you're right. DDOS attacks can routinely expose information through failure modes the ops team never prepared for. What happens when your failsafes fail? If they didn't test for it and put mitigations in place then it's rather likely that sensitive error messages or service details, or whatever, is being exposed over the wire. So aws mitigated this attack. Does aws know for a certainty that they revealed nothing sensitive in the process? Maybe, maybe not. If the attacker is good, and 2.3tbps is pretty fing good, then could the victim even be positioned to know what to look for? In uncharted territories the attacked is always down from the attacker.
- elorant 6y ago
  I heard they also can't be sustained for a long time. That used to be the case, but with the popularity and widespread use of IoT devices it won't hold true for long. If you can hack home appliances you could hold an attack for hours, if not days.
leksak 6y ago
Or shorting the stock of the target? The instant your DDOS topples the target that is. Or going long after the DDOS if you believe it'll recuperate.
user5994461 6y ago
Yep, seen that in person at a startup. The company was receiving regular threats to pay some bitcoins or be DDoS'ed. History has, the company used to be DDoS'ed regularly, sometimes offline for days, before moving to cloudflare.

I would suspect extortion. Pay us or we DDOS you offline.

by api 6y ago

I would suspect extortion. Pay us or we DDOS you offline.

I believe that sort of attack can't be achieved repeatedly. These attacks leave traces and clues behind them, and investigators are able to better pinpoint and protect for the next one. I heard they also can't be sustained for a long time. I believe they are more like an attempt to discover limits in the network or some targeted systems. Some systems are also vulnerable while they reboot, so attackers only need a one-time reboot.

Red_Leaves_Flyy 6y ago
Not an authority or expert in any fields of discussion itt From what I've been told, you're right. DDOS attacks can routinely expose information through failure modes the ops team never prepared for. What happens when your failsafes fail? If they didn't test for it and put mitigations in place then it's rather likely that sensitive error messages or service details, or whatever, is being exposed over the wire. So aws mitigated this attack. Does aws know for a certainty that they revealed nothing sensitive in the process? Maybe, maybe not. If the attacker is good, and 2.3tbps is pretty fing good, then could the victim even be positioned to know what to look for? In uncharted territories the attacked is always down from the attacker.
elorant 6y ago
I heard they also can't be sustained for a long time. That used to be the case, but with the popularity and widespread use of IoT devices it won't hold true for long. If you can hack home appliances you could hold an attack for hours, if not days.

leksak 6y ago

Or shorting the stock of the target? The instant your DDOS topples the target that is. Or going long after the DDOS if you believe it'll recuperate.

user5994461 6y ago

Yep, seen that in person at a startup. The company was receiving regular threats to pay some bitcoins or be DDoS'ed. History has, the company used to be DDoS'ed regularly, sometimes offline for days, before moving to cloudflare.