DOS attacks on the rise
Posted by Michael on Friday March 28, 2003 @02:44AM
from the Bob-attacks-are-next dept.
Michael writes: Microsoft reported on Tuesday that a vulnerability in IIS could make it susceptible to DOS attacks. These attacks are becoming more common - recent DOS attacks have been reported on Nokia phones and on several infamous web sites.
“It was pretty scary,” said one webmaster that asked not to be identified. “Our site was working fine for years, then suddenly last week we got a black screen. A minute later, the C:\\> prompt appeared, and we knew it was a DOS attack. Worse yet, it was one of the old buggy versions, 4.1 or something.”
While vendors have attempted several solutions, none can completely eliminate the risk of DOS attacks. “This type of attack started appearing in 1981,” said a security expert, “and reached a peak in 1993.” Stealth attacks were still common until a security fix was released in 2000. There is not yet an explanation for the new upsurge in attacks.