Is your internet running a little bit slowly today?
Here's the reason -- a pissing match between two companies.
From
The New York Times:
Firm Is Accused of Sending Spam, and Fight Jams Internet
A squabble between a group fighting spam and a Dutch company that hosts Web sites said to be sending spam has escalated into one of the largest computer attacks on the Internet, causing widespread congestion and jamming crucial infrastructure around the world.
Millions of ordinary Internet users have experienced delays in services like Netflix or could not reach a particular Web site for a short time.
However, for the Internet engineers who run the global network the problem is more worrisome. The attacks are becoming increasingly powerful, and computer security experts worry that if they continue to escalate people may not be able to reach basic Internet services, like e-mail and online banking.
The dispute started when the spam-fighting group, called Spamhaus, added the Dutch company Cyberbunker to its blacklist, which is used by e-mail providers to weed out spam. Cyberbunker, named for its headquarters, a five-story former NATO bunker, offers hosting services to any Web site �except child porn and anything related to terrorism,� according to its Web site.
A bit more:
Patrick Gilmore, chief architect at Akamai Networks, a digital content provider, said Spamhaus�s role was to generate a list of Internet spammers.
Of Cyberbunker, he added: �These guys are just mad. To be frank, they got caught. They think they should be allowed to spam.�
Mr. Gilmore said that the attacks, which are generated by swarms of computers called botnets, concentrate data streams that are larger than the Internet connections of entire countries. He likened the technique, which uses a long-known flaw in the Internet�s basic plumbing, to using a machine gun to spray an entire crowd when the intent is to kill one person.
How anyone could countenance Spam is beyond belief. This stuff is "free" to send but adversely impacts the entire rest of the network.
Cyberbunker delenda est.
Posted by DaveH at March 27, 2013 9:37 AM