Largest Ever Cyber-Attack Slows Web for Millions

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A cyber-attack from the web hosting firm CyberBunker slowed down the Internet for millions of users all over the world. The unprecedented attack was the result of spam-fighting group Spamhaus’ temporary addition of the firm to an email blacklist used by spam filters.

Largest Ever Cyber-Attack Slows Web for Millions

CyberBunker offers services to any website that isn’t “child porn and anything related to terrorism.” That description of its services means that sometimes it ends up being linked to behavior that has been condemned by spam filtering services.

The New York Times reported that the web hosting provider pushed out a denial of service attack which pushed out as many as 300 billion bits per second of data at one point, overloading servers. That statistic makes this cyber-attack the largest one ever.

It was especially troublesome for millions of users because it exploited Internet domain names and prevented users from reaching numerous websites. This type of attack is referred to as a Domain Name System flood attack, and it’s different than most denial of service attacks because the attacker aims large data packets from servers around the globe right at the victim.

An Internet expert speaking with The New York Times compared the attack to someone “using a machine gun to spray an entire crowd when the intent is to kill one person.”

As a result, the attack was felt by users all over the globe, who experienced huge delays in web services from companies like Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX). Even the London Internet Exchange was affected by the attack, according to Bloomberg News.

CyberBunker has said that it has resisted what it calls “attacks” from police in the Netherlands who were trying to arrest its employees.

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