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Internet Meltdown Predicted for Tomorrow 914

Posted by CmdrTaco from the brace-yourself-for-fun-and-excitement dept.
Kobalt writes "A few news services are reporting that Russian computer expert, Aleksandr Gostev from Kaspersky Labs, has predicted that a large chunk of the Internet will be shut down tomorrow by cyber terrorists."
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Internet Meltdown Predicted for Tomorrow More

Internet Meltdown Predicted for Tomorrow

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  • google..... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Ziak ( 807893 ) * on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @11:03AM (#10068935)
    as long as google dosen't go down we can live on the caches!!!!!

  • Which tomorrow? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @11:03AM (#10068939)
    Could they be a bit clearer on which TZ they're basing the attack? For me, it's already "tomorrow" in Japan.

  • Pure craziness (Score:3, Insightful)

    by MinusBlindfold ( 775913 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @11:03AM (#10068940) Journal
    How can they know? unless they are somehow involved.....

  • Sure, blame everything on terrorists (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @11:04AM (#10068943)
    He just wants to sell you his anti-virus!

  • Another terror alert? (Score:4, Funny)

    by fiannaFailMan ( 702447 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @11:04AM (#10068948) Journal
    I smell the work of the GOP trying to get the geek vote.

    • Re:Another terror alert? (Score:5, Informative)

      by spellraiser ( 764337 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @11:12AM (#10069101) Journal
      Seriously, this all sound very, very fishy. All the stories given are quite short, both in length and on details. For instance, Moscow News [mosnews.com] reports this:

      Speaking at a conference hosted by Russian Information Agency Novosti, Aleksandr Gostev from Kaspersky Labs said information on this terrorist attack was published on special websites. He did not elaborate.

      ...

      The executive director of Dr.Web antivirus lab, Mikhail Bychinsky, quoted by Lenta.ru web agency said he had not heard of such an attack. "I do not believe in mass internet attacks because the main servers are defended, and Kaspersky Labs has been foretelling doomsday for a long time."

      A case of cry wolf, most likely. The main question is 'Why the hell?'

  • Care to define that? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Lethyos ( 408045 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @11:04AM (#10068952) Journal

    Can someone seriously tell me what a "cyber terrorist" is? Is it someone who makes threats using electronic media? Is it someone who defaces web sites? Is it someone who shuts down the Internet? Are the latter two here really forms of terrorism? I don't really know of anyone who is "terrorized" by defaced web sites and high lag times, but I could be wrong.

  • Without the internet (Score:5, Funny)

    by MarkPNeyer ( 729607 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @11:04AM (#10068956)

    How will I be so productive at work ?

    oh... wait..

  • Repent! (Score:5, Funny)

    by focitrixilous P ( 690813 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @11:05AM (#10068964) Journal
    Evil bits! There is still time to mend your ways! Repent, evil bits, for the hour of your doom is at hand!

  • In other news... (Score:4, Funny)

    by RedShoeRider ( 658314 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @11:05AM (#10068976)
    We're going to slashdot the entire internet?

  • e-jihad perhaps? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by hot_Karls_bad_cavern ( 759797 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @11:05AM (#10068977) Journal
    SANS internet storm center [sans.org] has a note on this. They have seen increased scriptkiddie activity possibly leading up to this. Started on Sunday. Also read the note on the "drag-n-drop" exploit that is now seen in the wild and only requires you to move the scrollbar for it to install....several scanners are not picking up some of the new binaries being installed.

  • Ok, so no what? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ALeavitt ( 636946 ) * <aleavitt@gmail . c om> on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @11:06AM (#10068979)
    Armed with this foreknowledge, what can we do besides wait and see what happens? One of TFAs stated that there's really nothing we can do to defend against the attack, so what's the point in worrying about it? Either it will happen, and folks in the US and Western Europe will be inconvenienced, or it won't happen, and we'll all have worried for nothing. At this point, it seems like this knowledge, while nice to have, is somewhat useless.

    Also, why tomorrow? Wouldn't it send a more powerful message to wait a few weeks and do it on September 11th?

  • solution.. (Score:4, Funny)

    by LBArrettAnderson ( 655246 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @11:06AM (#10068987)
    NO! don't let them anywhere NEAR the internet's power switch!

  • Death of Internet predicted, film at 11 (Score:5, Informative)

    by gclef ( 96311 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @11:06AM (#10068988)
    The Kapersky folks have already started disavowing the statements that are attributed to them. Apparently this is a big case of sensationalism (surprise, surprise). NtBugTraq forwarded on the Kapersky statement on it, which had this useful bit of info:
    Kaspersky is not predicting the end of the Internet tomorrow - or even in the near future. The story stems from brief comments made yesterday at a press conference which was dedicated to cybercrime and the problems of spam.

    At this press conference, Kaspersky commented that the possibility of terrorists using the Internet as a tool to attack certain countries was a reality. As an example, he cited the fact that a number of Arabic and Hebrew language websites contained an announcement of an 'electronic jihad' against Israel, to start on 26th August 2004.

    In an interview today, Kaspersky stressed that such information was not necessarily trustworthy. 'We don't know who is behind these statements.' He went on to clarify: 'It's not the first time the term 'electronic jihad' has been used. We've seen this before, with the focus being on sending racist emails, and defacing and hacking Israeli web sites. But it is the first time I have seen sites encouraging the use of Internet attacks against one country as a form of terrorism.'


    Summary: nothing to see here. Move along.

  • In other news: (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Stradenko ( 160417 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @11:06AM (#10068989) Homepage
    A coordinated online strike against Internet servers by terrorists, dubbed "electronic jihad," may or may not strike this week


    The sun may or may not go nova this week.

    I may or may not get myself a real girlfriend.

    there may or may not be dupes posted on our beloved /.

    Kevin Mitnick may or may not like chicken.

    You may or may not get that raise (job, for those unemployed) this week.

    It's easy to make

  • Many more SSH login attempts (Score:5, Interesting)

    by yebb ( 142883 ) * on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @11:08AM (#10069011)
    Has anyone else noticed a lot of automated (presumably) login attempts for the users 'root', 'test' and 'guest' over SSH?

    I never used to get this, and now I seem to get dozens of them every day.
    I wonder if this is related to the so called "dooms-day" tomorrow.

  • In other news... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Westech ( 710854 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @11:08AM (#10069012) Journal
    Productivity tomorrow is expected to rise to levels not seen since the 1980's.

  • I don't know about the Internet... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Fnkmaster ( 89084 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @11:09AM (#10069025)
    But I can predict with 100% certainty that my eyes will meltdown in their sockets if they don't change the IT section color scheme soon.

  • Sounds serious, maybe (Score:5, Funny)

    by cephyn ( 461066 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @11:09AM (#10069042) Homepage

    A coordinated online strike against Internet servers by terrorists, dubbed "electronic jihad," may or may not strike this week, security experts said.

    Well, I may or may not be concerned then.

  • Oh no! (Score:5, Funny)

    by pedestrian crossing ( 802349 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @11:10AM (#10069062) Homepage Journal
    I was supposed to do a major network re-configuration tomorrow, damn, now I'll get the blame for bringing down the whole internet!

  • so far this week (Score:3, Interesting)

    by WormholeFiend ( 674934 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @11:11AM (#10069069)
    I noticed a lot of my favourite overseas sites have been slow to load, while others, located in North America, load normally...

    Just an impression though. I did not notice any more lag than usual in the online games I play

  • Comment removed (Score:3, Funny)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @11:12AM (#10069097)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Misquote/hype (Score:5, Informative)

    by Handyman ( 97520 ) * on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @11:12AM (#10069099) Homepage Journal
    Kaspersky labs says they were misquoted. Quoting from a mail from kaspersky labs themselves (as found in a repost on the NTBugtraq mailing list):

    A handful of sites are stating that Eugene Kaspersky, founder of Kaspersky Labs, believes that tomorrow will bring a massive terrorist attack on the Internet. This is being quoted in a range of ways, ranging from factual reporting to citing the story as an example of cyber hysteria.

    However, Kaspersky is not predicting the end of the Internet tomorrow - or even in the near future. The story stems from brief comments made yesterday at a press conference which was dedicated to cybercrime and the problems of spam.

    At this press conference, Kaspersky commented that the possibility of terrorists using the Internet as a tool to attack certain countries as a reality. As an example, he cited the fact that a number of Arabic and Hebrew language websites contained an announcement of an 'electronic jihad' against Israel, to start on 26th August 2004.

    In an interview today, Kaspersky stressed that such information was not necessarily trustworthy. 'We don't know who is behind these statements.' He went on to clarify: 'It's not the first time the term 'electronic jihad' has been used. We've seen this before, with the focus being on sending racist emails, and defacing and hacking Israeli web sites. But it is the first time I have seen sites encouraging the use of Internet attacks against one country as a form of terrorism.'

    'As we've already stated many times in the past, it would be easy enough to use a network of infected computers to launch such an attack. We saw the impact that Sasser, Mydoom and Slammer had, on the Internet, businesses and organisations. Just imagine if such an attack was directed at one country or one critical point in the infrastructure of the Internet. Computers are a tool - and just like any tool, they can be used or misused.'

    Kaspersky emphasised that the likelihood of a massive attack directed against Israeli institutions tomorrow is low. However, he believes that Pandora's box has now been opened. Hackers and virus writers can be motivated by a range of factors: money, curiosity, or political
    conviction. But whatever their motivation, the insecure nature of the Internet and weak security precautions offer a wealth of opportunities. 'Maybe it won't be tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow - but sooner or later, terrorists will be using the Internet as another weapon in their arsenal.'

  • School started again.... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by menscher ( 597856 ) <[menscher+slashdot] [at] [uiuc.edu]> on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @11:13AM (#10069115) Homepage Journal
    and all the undergrad kiddies brought their infected computers from home. University network is trashed by all the worms.

    Not sure how this relates to any jihad, though.

    When's the Republican National Convention? Maybe this is somehow related to CrimethInc's talk?

  • Of Course They Did (Score:5, Funny)

    by VonGuard ( 39260 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @11:13AM (#10069121) Homepage Journal
    Doesn't XP Service Pack 2 finally make its way onto Windows Auto-update tomorrow?

  • Internettrafficreport.com (Score:5, Informative)

    by GillBates0 ( 664202 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @11:16AM (#10069167) Homepage Journal
    www.internettrafficreport.com [internettr...report.com] is a one of the sites which gives a nice overview of the network throughputs across the globe (average response time, packetloss, etc).

    At about 12:15pm on the US east coast, it should be "tomorrow" soon in the Eastern continents. I'll keep a watch on the stats and flip the switch if necessary :P

  • Nothing will happen and you know this. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by DroopyStonx ( 683090 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @11:38AM (#10069453)
    Why is this a story? Seriously... This is pure BS. You KNOW tomorrow will come and go and nothing will happen.

    Might as well report that the Apocalypse is supposed to happen sometime between 7 PM and 12 AM on Friday.

    Personally, I hope it does happen. There hasn't really been any interesting attacks since Code Red. I'm always looking forward to what attackers will come up with next.

    If they could actually cause a "meltdown", then that would be purely amazing.

  • Earthlink - Ahead of the Curve! (Score:5, Funny)

    by buckhead_buddy ( 186384 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @11:38AM (#10069459)
    Since about midnight last night, Earthlink appears to be ahead of this "internet meltdown" curve. Their DSL service has been slow when it's working at all.

    What a service provider!

  • XP SP2 (Score:5, Funny)

    by palndron ( 37455 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @11:39AM (#10069477) Homepage
    Maybe he is referring to the Windows Update release of XP SP2?

  • Ha! (Score:4, Funny)

    by Vampyre_Dark ( 630787 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @11:46AM (#10069556)
    Screw the net! I spend all my time on teh intarweb!

  • This is a misquote (Score:4, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @12:06PM (#10069819)

    It is explained clearly by Russ Cooper in this bugtraq post [neohapsis.com].

  • Why post? (Score:5, Funny)

    by PsiPsiStar ( 95676 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @12:49PM (#10070386)
    If he's right, it's not like your comments will be modded up anyways.

  • Oh for pity's sake!! At least get the facts right (Score:5, Informative)

    by Wapiti-eater ( 759089 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @01:22PM (#10070781)
    From: news@kaspersky.com [mailto:news@kaspersky.com]
    Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 2004 10:29 AM
    To: news@kaspersky.com
    Subject: VirusList.com Virus Alerts & Virus News: 25th August 2004: Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

    VirusList.com Virus Alerts & Virus News. Wednesday, August 25, 2004

    1. 25th August 2004: Who knows what tomorrow will bring?
    2. How to subscribe/unsubscribe
    3. Security Rules

    ****

    1. 25th August 2004: Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

    A handful of sites are stating that Eugene Kaspersky, founder of Kaspersky Labs, believes that tomorrow will bring a massive terrorist attack on the Internet. This is being quoted in a range of ways, ranging from factual reporting to citing the story as an example of cyber hysteria.

    However, Kaspersky is not predicting the end of the Internet tomorrow - or even in the near future. The story stems from brief comments made yesterday at a press conference which was dedicated to cybercrime and the problems of spam.

    At this press conference, Kaspersky commented that the possibility of terrorists using the Internet as a tool to attack certain countries was a reality. As an example, he cited the fact that a number of Arabic and Hebrew language websites contained an announcement of an 'electronic jihad' against Israel, to start on 26th August 2004.

    In an interview today, Kaspersky stressed that such information was not necessarily trustworthy. 'We don't know who is behind these statements.' He went on to clarify: 'It's not the first time the term 'electronic jihad' has been used. We've seen this before, with the focus being on sending racist emails, and defacing and hacking Israeli web sites. But it is the first time I have seen sites encouraging the use of Internet attacks against one country as a form of terrorism.'

    'As we've already stated many times in the past, it would be easy enough to use a network of infected computers to launch such an attack. We saw the impact that Sasser, Mydoom and Slammer had, on the Internet, businesses and organisations. Just imagine if such an attack was directed at one country or one critical point in the infrastructure of the Internet. Computers are a tool - and just like any tool, they can be used or misused.'

    Kaspersky emphasised that the likelihood of a massive attack directed against Israeli institutions tomorrow is low. However, he believes that Pandora's box has now been opened. Hackers and virus writers can be motivated by a range of factors: money, curiosity, or political conviction. But whatever their motivation, the insecure nature of the Internet and weak security precautions offer a wealth of opportunities. 'Maybe it won't be tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow - but sooner or later, terrorists will be using the Internet as another weapon in their arsenal.' :snipped::

    See http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/today/0006. html for the rest.

  • MD5 cracked? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by noda132 ( 531521 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @03:16PM (#10071921) Homepage

    Whoa. The article says MD5 encryption was cracked. Is this true? I had only heard a rumour that a single collision had been found. And as for SHA-0... that's hardly making up the backbone of the Internet, is it?

    Wait a minute... is MD5 even encryption at all? I thought it was a "message digest"...

    • Re:MD5 cracked? (Score:5, Informative)

      by kirkjobsluder ( 520465 ) <kirk@job[ ]der.net ['slu' in gap]> on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @05:25PM (#10073033) Homepage
      Multiple MD5 and one SHA0 collisions were confirmed at the Crypto 2004 conference in Santa Barbara. Perhaps more important is that these collisions demonstrated the feasibility of "shortcuts" to produce a collision. At this time, these are belived to be of little practical significance because they are still computationally expensive and affect only collision avoidance. There are two aspects to MD5 and SHA that are important. Collision avoidance is one, the other is preimage resistance (the difficulty creating an input to the function that produces a known output.) However, it is quite possible that these breaks can be expanded into even larger breaks, including preimage cracking.

      While not encryption, MD5 and SHA are used in a variety of ways that are important to encryption. For example PGP and GPG use hash algorithms and salt to convert plantext passphrases into pseudo-random encryption keys. So one possible threat is finding that MD5 and SHA are biased enough to make an attack feasible. It does not matter if blowfish uses 128 bit encryption if the function used to generate the key is significantly biased. Big huge "if."

      As someone else pointed out, MD5 is used to encrypt passwords in some password files. If someone expands the shortcut to defeat preimage resistance, it might be easier to find a working passphrase from a password file. Again, this is a big "if."

      So the one article is blowing things out of proportion. These are not the kind of breaks that would lead to a practical attack yet. The collisions were created using generated plaintexts so it is not likely that someone can slip a trojan into source code in such a way as to produce the same hash string.

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