Most media reported the attack on the internet backbone of a couple of weeks back and I’ve been digging around to see what else is going on. There are some startling stats — albeit from internet security companies. London-based computer security firm mi2g says that October has already qualified as the worst month for overt digital attacks since records began in 1995, with an estimated 16,559 attacks carried out. Compare this to the whole of the first quarter of this year when there were 6,937 and you get the feeling something strange might be going on (source: The Washington Post).
In terms of what’s been done to sure up the internet since the DNS attack, EWeek reports:
“In the wake of last week’s unprecedented DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack against all 13 of the Internet’s root-name servers, the U.S. Government and ICANN, one of the Internet’s main governing bodies, are considering changes to help protect the DNS system against future attacks. The most immediate and significant changes will likely come from the ICANN, which is holding a meeting this week in Shanghai, China. The body, which is ultimately responsible for maintaining the root servers that contain the master list of Internet domains, will hear recommendations from its Security and Stability Advisory Committee on securing the edge of the Domain Name System network.”
