Comments on: TimeWarner DNS Hijacking IRC Servers to Stop DDoS Attacks

By: backbone

backbone — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 15:16:08 +0000

TRDQ: if what you suppose it is true, than why haven’t we seen any DDoS attacks on large networks (as we all know the most of the bots belong to script kiddies).

But if you’re right than probably we’ll see some slow down of large websites, or total “annihilation” of home made web servers =)

By: Saso

Saso — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 06:11:35 +0000

A lot must have changed in the past 5 years if such activity is not only seriously considered by ISPs, but also acted upon. I wonder what their General Counsel thought of this idea, because it means that Cox is now not only a provider of connectivity - a common carrier - but is also actively managing its users’ security.

The biggest problem in the past was that once ISPs cross the line and start actively managing users’ security, they can, and will be, held liable for anything that their controls miss. This IRC redirection sounds to me like something that was conjured up by techos and didn’t get proper level scrutiny from legal eagles.

By: STORM WORM: LARGEST ATTACK IN TWO YEARS, BUT WHY? « TheMostBoringBlogInTheWorld

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 02:58:16 +0000

[...] have been jacking the DNS entries for certain IRC networks to crack down on zombie/bot infections. (Darknet: TimeWarner DNS Hijacking IRC Servers to Stop DDoS [...]

By: TheRealDonQuixote

TheRealDonQuixote — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 01:22:57 +0000

I wonder if this has something to do with the latest P2P reconstituting w32.storm.worm? Its really a trojan that adds your PC to a bot net. Somebody has been sending vareints since last x-mas and the bot net must be HUGE by now. I wonder if this is an attempt at blocking any more DoS attacks from STORM. Anyone know anything? Its the longest sustained attack in two years. Good thing I’m all Linux now.

By: Sandeep Nain

Sandeep Nain — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 00:47:28 +0000

I don’t think they gonna start re-directing the traffic and change the DNS entries. im aure they are not such fools… in the end they are just an ISP and not a government who decides what people can/can not access.

and they are running a business… so they know if they start doing it they will loose a hell lot of business.

By: moons

moons — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 00:33:35 +0000

Yep, thats just it, sooner or later, they’ll end up redirecting all traffic from websites they “deem” bad, and then again, who’s actually supposed to deem what they deem is bad as really bad?

Becomes sort of like china where they block a lot of sites, and shut down political debates online, so theres no longer freedom of speech. Its just an inch away from the start of redirecting traffic of IRC servers to their own server just because they try to combat with the amount of infected botnets pc.

By: Sandeep Nain

Sandeep Nain — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 00:16:33 +0000

I am sure according to ‘australian privacy laws’ it will be considered unethical too…

By: backbone

backbone — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 22:22:36 +0000

i think that would be the case for countries like germany and there new laws…

By: CK76

CK76 — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 20:22:13 +0000

LAME. Anyone heard of a slippery slope? Pretty soon they’re going to be redirecting dns requests for websites they deem bad…probably “hacking” sites like this one.

By: backbone

backbone — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 18:34:23 +0000

privacy should be protected. I see no ethical action in what the ISP has done, if they want to trim down the number of irc bots they should do free security support for there clients…