WikiLeaks 'redirected' Web traffic to dodge attack, Ann Arbor firm concludes in analysis
WikiLeaks, the group that released hundreds of thousands of confidential government documents revealing diplomatic secrets this weekend, used a network of "mirror sites" to dodge an attempt by hackers to shut its website down, according to an analysis released this morning by an Ann Arbor company.
Ann Arbor-based Arbor Networks, whose security software monitors Internet traffic for 70 percent of the world's Internet service providers, concluded that WikiLeaks "redirected" an attack from its Swedish hosting service to off-site servers in Ireland to avoid problems.
Arbor Networks chief scientist Craig Labovitz said in a blog post that Arbor's data indicates the so-called "distributed denial of service attack" started at 10:05 a.m. EST Sunday. In such an attack, hackers try to shut down servers by overwhelming them with Web traffic.
Labovitz indicated that Arbor could not pinpoint the source of the attack on WikiLeaks but noted that "governments and vigilante hacker groups" have come under suspicion.
"While the DDOS attack generated an outpouring of blog posts, news articles and tweets, it appears to have had little impact on the WikiLeaks 'Cablegate' disbursement of documents," Labovitz wrote.
Arbor Networks employs 90 at its R&D headquarters in Ann Arbor.
The firm is based in Massachusetts but employs about 90 workers at its research-and-development headquarters on South State Street in Ann Arbor. Arbor has said it plans to add about 30 jobs in Ann Arbor by the end of 2011.
Contact AnnArbor.com's Nathan Bomey at (734) 623-2587 or nathanbomey@annarbor.com. You can also follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's newsletters.
Comments
bedrog
Wed, Dec 1, 2010 : 7:12 a.m.
ian ( and moderators..This will be on topic, but give me a sec): Rand Pauls extremism is on 2 fronts: 1- his own self-professed isolationism in an age of international threats ( n.korea, iran,islamic militancy, drug cartels etc ). 2..His attraction to people ( like someone i wont mention) who fatuously and repeatedly deny obvious realities..9/11 specifically ( but in some cases no doubt the holocaust, global warming, gravity, etc). And yes.. the Constitution is a fine document, but not written in stone and needing constant reinterpretation and modification in light of realities that did not exist in the late 18th century.. Freedom of the press is also a fine thing when its exercised responsibly and not with the arrogance and hubris shown by wikileakers ( and glenn beck). The latter is just a clown..the former are truly dangerous and deserve to answer for what they do.
Ian
Tue, Nov 30, 2010 : 10:17 p.m.
@pawky, I highly doubt a lowly private would have had access and ability to copy very sensative and highly classified infomation from the Pentagon mainframe. Any time you copy anything from Pentagon computers, there is a security procedure and authorization is required. Otherwise, anyone of the thousands of people working at the Pentagon could do it. By the way, did anyone see the 747 that hit the Pentagon? Not a single picture of the big plane even though the Pentagon is surrounded by security cameras. hmmmmm!
Ian
Tue, Nov 30, 2010 : 10:05 p.m.
@bedrog, What, you do not approve of the U.S. Constitution? Or, rather than calling me names, how about providing me an example of extremism from Rand Paul?
bedrog
Tue, Nov 30, 2010 : 9:28 p.m.
ian...given that my post was designed ( aside from simply telling the obvious truth) to get you to post in a way that would show the absurdity of "head in the sand" Paulistas, who's the one who's "conditioned"? I ( and Pavlov) think you're great local entertainment. ( Not the greatest, but still pretty good)
pawky
Tue, Nov 30, 2010 : 9:25 p.m.
Pfc. Bradley Manning and any other Americans involved in stealing and passing along classified U.S. documents deserve life w/hard labor at Leavenworth, at a minimum. Julian Assange & his Wiki-Leaks co-conspirators should have to keep looking skyward for a drone for the lives that will be lost and other damage done by their cowardly acts.
Ian
Tue, Nov 30, 2010 : 8:17 p.m.
@bedrog "except for the fringiest of both extremes, at least one of whom is now in congress...i.e. baby Paul" To you Rand Paul might appear extreme because your mind has been conditioned to believe that is so, and the MSMs have twisted the truth. Is it extreme to want to abide by the law? All Rand Paul, like Ron Paul, wants is for the U.S. to strictly follow the Constitution? Which Obama (along with Clinton and Bush), is in the process of destroying. All in the name of the bogus war on terror.
Ian
Tue, Nov 30, 2010 : 8:08 p.m.
Wikileaks = psy-ops.
bedrog
Tue, Nov 30, 2010 : 6:29 p.m.
rusty...the countries we are "trying to destroy" have done a remakably effective self-destruction job on their own. The U.s. is mostly trying to quash their ability to export such destructive activity...something both sides of the political aisle agree on ( except for the fringiest of both extremes, at least one of whom is now in congress...i.e. baby Paul) ( whether we're succeeding at such containment is another topic altogether). But these self appointed wikileakers are indeed flirting with treason.
djm12652
Tue, Nov 30, 2010 : 4:25 p.m.
@treetowncartel...I agree.
Ignatz
Tue, Nov 30, 2010 : 3:49 p.m.
The Pentagon papers are just barely analagous to these documents. The former were concerned with a specific aspect of our foreign policy whereas the latter are more broad in scope. Conviving to expand a war where Americans and others were being killed and wounded is different than the majority of what was published recently. By revealing our diplomatic and espionage activities, different things are at stake.
Speechless
Tue, Nov 30, 2010 : 1:58 p.m.
The recent releases from Wikileaks provide us with the closest contemporary equivalent of the Vietnam-era Pentagon Papers. Almost forty years ago, Papers releaser Daniel Ellsberg was called a "traitor" and his action regarded as "treasonous" by defenders of Nixon's White House and its war policies in Vietnam. Yet those documents offered Americans a genuine glimpse into machinations behind the violence in southeast Asia being systematically carried out in their name during that era. Since the guy behind Wikileaks is not an American, the "treason" label doesn't work so well for his political opponents. So, they've been trying other strategies instead. First, ad hominem character attacks were employed to distract international coverage of the content in documents released by Wikileaks. More recently, it's been claimed that the newer leaks are "boring" and offer little information not already known, as if to say to the public and the media, "Everyone move along — nothing to see here." Now, the latest action by opponents (in or out of government) is to attempt a takedown of the Wikileaks web site. Daniel Ellsberg, for his part, stated a few months ago on radio's Democracy Now! that he has concerns for the future safety and personal welfare of Pfc. Bradley Manning (a leaker) and Julian Assange (Wikileaks editor and founder).
treetowncartel
Tue, Nov 30, 2010 : 1:55 p.m.
It looks like criminal charges are going to be brought. http://www.detnews.com/article/20101130/NATION/11300346/1020/nation/Clinton-calls-leaked-documents-attack-on-world
rusty shackelford
Tue, Nov 30, 2010 : 12:03 p.m.
Wikileaks has released many documents relating to Russian corruption in the past, they just didn't make news here because Americans don't care about other countries we aren't actively trying to destroy. As for treason, it clearly doesn't apply in this case. (For a good definition of treason, see: US constitution.)
Ignatz
Tue, Nov 30, 2010 : 11:45 a.m.
Isn't the owner/founder of this site a former hacker? If he practiced his cowardly self-serving ways by releasing secret info from North Korea, Russia or Red China, they's never find his body. I don't thing he's a US citizen and so, stole information belonging to us. I hope they catch him/them soon.
treetowncartel
Tue, Nov 30, 2010 : 11:33 a.m.
If these people are U.S. Citizens organize a possee, round em up and bring them in for a trial on charges of treason. I also think the individuals that leaked this information should encounter the same fate.