6 ms·

I think "follow the money" is a decent heuristic here. Why else would anyone do it?

markus_zhang 2y ago
Is it possible for archive.org to trace back the IP addresses? I assume maybe the attackers used a lot of IoT devices or VMs in cloud?
- fmajid 2y ago
  Botnets usually, sometimes amplification attacks against NTP or DNS, although the Chinese government’s Great Firewall also has offensive capabilities known as the Great Cannon, although they are generally used against GitHub because it hosts censorship-circumvention software like VPNs.
  - markus_zhang 2y ago
    Are botnets usually hosted on personal computers or servers or IoT? I'm thinking maybe archive.org can block a whole range of IPs if needed.
    - 0xcde4c3db 2y ago
      Resistance to that kind of simple countermeasure is exactly what distinguishes a DDoS attack from a non-distributed DoS attack. The traffic basically comes from "everywhere". Not literally every IP block and route, but widespread enough that it's difficult to separate from legitimate users without actually processing the traffic (which is what you're trying to avoid by e.g. blocking an IP range).
      - hnthrowaway0328 2y ago
        Thanks. And I assume they mostly come from friendly countries which makes it even harder to block? This is indeed very tough to resist.
        ziml77 2y ago
        Yes. This is why it's maddening that most people don't take computer security seriously. Virus infected devices are what give these botnets their scale and wide distribution.
      - pmarreck 2y ago
        So compile a long list of compromised source IP's and just block those upstream?
    - fmajid 2y ago
      All of the above, and also increasingly IoT devices, specially printers and routers. There is no simple way to block them.
fortran77 2y ago
There are many individuals with embarassing things on the Internet. Perhaps one of the recent University empcampment participants wants to get an internship and doesn't want prospective employers to see articles about them them screaming and yelling. I think the odds that a major publisher is behind this is slim....

Is it possible for archive.org to trace back the IP addresses? I assume maybe the attackers used a lot of IoT devices or VMs in cloud?

fmajid 2y ago
Botnets usually, sometimes amplification attacks against NTP or DNS, although the Chinese government’s Great Firewall also has offensive capabilities known as the Great Cannon, although they are generally used against GitHub because it hosts censorship-circumvention software like VPNs.
- markus_zhang 2y ago
  Are botnets usually hosted on personal computers or servers or IoT? I'm thinking maybe archive.org can block a whole range of IPs if needed.
  - 0xcde4c3db 2y ago
    Resistance to that kind of simple countermeasure is exactly what distinguishes a DDoS attack from a non-distributed DoS attack. The traffic basically comes from "everywhere". Not literally every IP block and route, but widespread enough that it's difficult to separate from legitimate users without actually processing the traffic (which is what you're trying to avoid by e.g. blocking an IP range).
    - hnthrowaway0328 2y ago
      Thanks. And I assume they mostly come from friendly countries which makes it even harder to block? This is indeed very tough to resist.
      - ziml77 2y ago
        Yes. This is why it's maddening that most people don't take computer security seriously. Virus infected devices are what give these botnets their scale and wide distribution.
    - pmarreck 2y ago
      So compile a long list of compromised source IP's and just block those upstream?
  - fmajid 2y ago
    All of the above, and also increasingly IoT devices, specially printers and routers. There is no simple way to block them.

fortran77 2y ago

There are many individuals with embarassing things on the Internet. Perhaps one of the recent University empcampment participants wants to get an internship and doesn't want prospective employers to see articles about them them screaming and yelling. I think the odds that a major publisher is behind this is slim....