DDoS attacks

Timothy Brown timothy.brown at pobox.com
Thu Jul 12 02:55:35 UTC 2001


> before!  I can't BELIEVE that an IRC server has attracted the attention of
> a script kiddie!

I cannot believe the attitudes I am seeing on NANOG over this event.

Your comments do not help this situation whatsoever; if you do not like IRC,
feel free to rant in your own private forums rather than on a list for
network operators.

No matter what you may think about IRC, or EFNet in particular, it should
be accorded at least your professional courtesy.  IRC (EFNet) has been
around a very long time.  You probably would not define it as a "critical"
Internet service, but it has served many people in several different types
of situations - everything from natural disaster to personal distress.
It is as real a service provided on the Internet as the Web or anonymous
FTP sites.  DDoS attacks affect us all - and his call for assistance
reflects the danger to the providers of IRC servers as much as anything
else.

Quite frankly, DDoS attacks in any form should be squashed with as much
energy as the network engineering community can muster.  The reality of DDoS
is that if the "evil empire" (i'm speaking metaphorically here) of script
kiddies can just take down any service they want, then when those script
kiddies find reason to target you for any particular reason and you raise
a cry for help, nobody will listen.

If you do not define EFNet as critical, that is one thing.  But the attacks
on one IRC network could grow to encompass any other IRC network, or any other
service on the Internet.  I'm reiterating the obvious here, since you do not
seem to possess enough clue to get it yourself.  The times, they are
a'changin'.  Soon YOU will be the provider of content as well as a provider
of connectivity, and you will be subject to the same situation EFNet is
going through now.

You cannot simply ignore DDoS attacks based on the fact they are targeting
EFNet.    Attacks on EFNet (and any other Internet service of similar ilk)
are attacks, by extension, on the providers of Internet service at large
and of the very business model we attempt to make money on (some of us are
succeeding) - people want services that you do not offer, so they use you to
get there, but they will still call you if they do not work.

I'm getting windy here, but I think you get the idea.

T



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