Cyberattack Against WikiLeaks Was Weak

[PHCharls]

 

Wikileak attacked

 

In the first test of WikiLeaks’ resiliency since a staff rebellion earlier this year, the organization recovered within hours from a distributed denial-of-service attack during its rollout of leaked State Department cables Sunday. But experts who monitored the disruptive traffic say the attack was relatively modest in size.

 

WikiLeaks’ main web address and its “cablegate” site were unreachable as the organization’s media partners published their first analyses from a massive trove of a quarter-million U.S. diplomatic cables Sunday afternoon. Hours earlier, WikiLeaks wrote on Twitter: “We are currently under a mass distributed denial-of-service attack.”

 

But Arbor Networks, which analyzes malicious network traffic crossing the internet’s backbones, reports that the DDoS generated between 2 and 4 Gbps of disruptive traffic, slightly above the average for all DDoS attacks, but well below the peak 60 to 100 Gbps consumed by truly massive attacks against other websites over the last year.

 

“The traffic that we’re looking at going to the network where WikiLeaks was hosted at the time the attack started is 12 to 15 gigs per second, so 2 to 4 gigs on top of that is not much,” says Jose Nazario, a senior security researcher at Arbor.

 

The DDoS tested WikiLeaks’ mettle in the wake of a staff rebellion earlier this year that cost the organization a key technical volunteer responsible for its complex bulletproof backend. The volunteer had set up a censorship-resistant system that decoupled WikiLeaks’ document archives from its public internet IP addresses, allowing the site to jump back to life within an hour of losing its hosting.

 

When that volunteer resigned in September, along with spokesman Daniel Domscheit-Berg and other staffers, WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange was given two weeks to “prepare an alternative setup,” the volunteer said in an interview last month. After that, “we pulled off all the technology developed for WikiLeaks and handed the remaining people the machines. We only took with us that which was developed by us.”

 

 

The volunteer’s account was confirmed by other former WikiLeaks staffers. “No machines that had been donated to WikiLeaks were removed,” says former staffer Herbert Snorrason, an Icelandic university student. Instead, “the software systems and web systems” were taken out of service.

 

WikiLeaks’ original website with its archive of leaked documents from around the world has remained offline ever since, while WikiLeaks has focused on the high-profile U.S. leaks linked, with varying degrees of certainty, to Bradley Manning, the 23-year-old former intelligence analyst charged with accessing and disclosing diplomatic cables and other classified files. WikiLeaks launched the Iraq war logs and the State Department cable leaks from dedicated web pages with itinerant hosting.

 

Despite the issues, WikiLeaks was able to recover from Sunday’s DDoS attack relatively swiftly.

 

The traffic, directed at WikiLeaks’ Swedish hosting provider Bahnhof, began at approximately 10:05 a.m. EST and originated from “a handful of sources,” says Arbor’s Nazario. Though modest in size, the attack was effective because it opened TCP connections to WikiLeaks’ servers and kept them open, like jamming a switchboard.

 

WikiLeaks responded by redirecting its web addresses to cloud servers in France and Ireland. The organization announced a functional “cablegate” site shortly after 4 p.m. EST, six hours after the attack began. The site launched with 219 diplomatic cables, and WikiLeaks says it plans to release the entire cache “in stages” over the coming months.

 

A self-described “hacktivist” called Jester has taken credit for the DDoS. Jester has a history of launching similar attacks against websites said to be linked to radical Islam. He wrote on Twitter that he targeted WikiLeaks “for threatening the lives of our troops and ‘other assets.’”

[anus]

What a waste. I was looking forward to going through those documents.

 

Oh well, DDoS won't stop them from being released. Just a matter of time.

[Robinski]

Don't you have a view on this? I can read the articles on news sites thanks.

 

Personally I think the attack was pretty pointless and stupid. Some things that are being leaked/could potentially be leaked could put some lives at risk, but when you're an organisation that promotes freedom of knowledge and information you can't really pick and choose which parts of a bunch of information you release. You either release it all or none of it, or else you're just as bad as the government censors. With the amount of important information in the current leak, it's going to get out one way or another, all of it.

 

I've always been on the fence about Wikileaks, I do think the goal is admirable and I'm pretty firmly on their side. You can't just ignore the dangerous repercussions of releasing some of the information though.

Edited December 1, 2010 by Robinski

[stinomontana]

maybe north korea has someting to do with this.

 

[Niko_Vercetti7]

 

maybe north korea has someting to do with this.

 

I'm sure

[lil weasel]

More probably the Government did it to allow for a legal assault to shut down areas of information and/or otherwise control the internet.

Reichstad, 9/11, etc. Don't they call it Black Flag operations?

 

[makeshyft]

Black Flag Operation?

 

Is that like a combination of false flag ops, black ops and anarchist symbolism?

[Minus the Boom]

maybe north korea has someting to do with this.

Yeah, obviously.

 

Tbh I'm torn in between hiding documents from the public vs. releasing them and risking lives.

[unopescio]

hahahaha the government has stooped to the level of ddosing? Even 4chan could pose a greater threat. pathetic.

[anus]

hahahaha the government has stooped to the level of ddosing? Even 4chan could pose a greater threat. pathetic.

So much for 'Jester' eh .

[nerner]

I agree it does seem a bit unlikely for the US government to be involved in this in any way. Unless they are just not bothering to make too much of an effort in case it gets seen as too professional and is linked back to them.

 

I can't see them getting involved in that stuff though otherwise it would just open up a whole other can of worms. My best bet would be someone with a decent hacking repertoire and a sense of (perhaps misguided) outrage against the site just bringing them down for a while.

[Robinski]

 

I can't see them getting involved in that stuff though otherwise it would just open up a whole other can of worms

This is why I'm pretty sure it won't have been any (major) government. It's essentially responding to "Hmmm, a lot of sensitive stuff we never wanted to see the light of day is coming out. What can we do?" by saying "Let's do something underhanded that we'll totally keep under raps this times I swear!".

 

Bureaucracies always leave paper trails, and those are how most leaks happen. I wouldn't risk it if I were them.

But then again, I am a student and not some cloak-and-dagger government executive.

[Jesus'En'Hitler420]

Anyone read any of the docs? Apparently Muammar al-Gaddafi enjoys the company of voluptuous blonde nurses. Who doesn't?

[nerner]

Amazon has stopped hosting wikileaks.

 

Can't say I'm too surprised. As much as I hate governments not disclosing everything, you have to say that anything which poses as much of a risk to homeland security as much as this one apparently does can't argue against having their servers shut down too hard.

[860]

Can't say I'm too surprised. As much as I hate governments not disclosing everything, you have to say that anything which poses as much of a risk to homeland security as much as this one apparently does can't argue against having their servers shut down too hard.

That is the U.S. goverment's only comeback they've got left. They do censor all the names of the people that could be endangered.

[Typhus]

Julian Assange is going to get himself murdered. He is screwing with some VERY bad people.

This attack was most likely a lone hacker who thought it would be funny. But his actions are going to get him killed, and that would be a shame. I admire his guts, even if I am completely opposed to what he's doing. He's a credit to journalism, I really believe that.

But there are people, and not necessarily Americans, who would go after a man such as Assange because of the things he has been releasing. If he does, as has been claimed, have information on every nation on Earth, then he will be stepping on the toes of some of the most loathesome, corrupt, evil human beings you could imagine.

He's already wanted by Interpol, but there could be far more severe threats to his wellbeing lurking in the shadows.

[Robinski]

Julian Assange is going to get himself murdered. He is screwing with some VERY bad people.

This attack was most likely a lone hacker who thought it would be funny. But his actions are going to get him killed, and that would be a shame. I admire his guts, even if I am completely opposed to what he's doing. He's a credit to journalism, I really believe that.

But there are people, and not necessarily Americans, who would go after a man such as Assange because of the things he has been releasing. If he does, as has been claimed, have information on every nation on Earth, then he will be stepping on the toes of some of the most loathesome, corrupt, evil human beings you could imagine.

He's already wanted by Interpol, but there could be far more severe threats to his wellbeing lurking in the shadows.

If you're pissing that many powerful people off, chances are what you are doing is morally right. Or at the very least, easily justifiable.

 

The guy's brave to stand up for what he thinks is right. I think everyone can appreciate that

[pyramid head]

Watch out Skynet's about.

[Tyler]

Anyone read any of the docs? Apparently Muammar al-Gaddafi enjoys the company of voluptuous blonde nurses. Who doesn't?

I read some about North Korean missiles being sold to Iran, go bored after that.

 

Guy above me is a f*cking idiot that can't get sarcasm across.

[Mr.Mister]

So the Pentagon hacked his website? Interesting...

 

 

[[SM]CJZera]

Wikileaks was on the news here in Uruguay a while ago... I can't believe people makes all this fuzz over those documents, I've read some and the only interesting thing I found is that one of them calls Aregntina's ex president Kirschner a psycopath... And even that's not that interesting...

[NickRad]

Apparently the Wiki Leaks founder is a rapist. Yeah right

I honestly hope he doesn't get caught because everyone has the right to know the truth

[UNRATED69]

So, the government doesn't want the documents released. What do they do? Politely ask them to stop, remove a glove, and lightly tap them on the face. Very effective.

[PHCharls]

maybe north korea has someting to do with this.

I think North Korea did this

[Ari Gold]

Why?

 

Anywho, I guess WikiLeaks internet security is pretty WikiWeak.

[Robinski]

What the hell do North Korea have to do with this?! Where are you guys pulling this sh*t from?

 

Jesus, NK is the new Illuminati.

[Tyler]

 

Apparently the Wiki Leaks founder is a rapist. Yeah right 

I honestly hope he doesn't get caught because everyone has the right to know the truth

No, they don't actually. Governments keep active nowadays by keeping their operations secret from enemies and other countries. Levelling the playing field would be too simple - and would leave room for a major war. Not knowing what your enemy holds in his pants is much worse than knowing. Absence of evidence is evidence to not attack. Get me?

[Robinski]

Absence of evidence is evidence to not attack. Get me?

Iraq called, they'd like a word with you.

[Tyler]

Absence of evidence is evidence to not attack. Get me?

Iraq called, they'd like a word with you.

I thought it was Iran that called? sh*t, they all sound the same on the answering machine, "alalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalal you're insensitive to diversity"

[Ari Gold]

Well, some countries only require 'assumption' before launching military invasions. Then again, that's been happening for centuries. What's uncertain is the catalyst which sets that whole reaction off.

 

Politics, in the end, is a game. Everyone wants the best for themselves, and that involves rubbishing and dumping sh*t on others (with the help of others) if it serves in the expansion of your power... Yet you can also turn around and let that nation become your best friend if situations change, and if they're better equipped to suit your needs. Hence, internationalism = faulty ideal. National interest rules out.

 

People have the right to know, I mean, I feel fantastic reading about all the kinky sh*t being released. But, I can see Unoriginal's point. If you were to do it to US diplomatic leaks, you'd have to do it to all major powers in politics.