Starting about 2:30 am EDT today, my cult counseling site, KnappFamilyCounseling.com, came under a Denial of Service attack. This brought the site down from 2:30 am until about 4 pm this afternoon. Service has been restored despite the attack continuing. (Say a loud "Yay" with me for my resourceful Internet host, WestHost.com!)
The attack was largely coordinated from six sites around the world, although apparently hundreds of smaller sites are also taking part. A Denial of Service attack (DoS) basically happens when a site is flooded with so many requests for service that the server is overwhelmed. My "hits" went from around 500 a day to over 10,000 during this period. (I usually run 50 to 70 unique visitors a day.)
DoS is a fairly common practice on the Internet, particularly with controversial or disliked commercial sites. Most recently Church of $cientology sites have been under attack from the group, "Anonymous," for instance.
But why anyone would want to shut down a small counseling site like mine, with as few as 50 visitors a day, is beyond me.
I have no idea who is behind this. And the nature of the attack being what it is, with many unwitting "slave" PCs frequently taking part, I may never know.
It's a curious form of compliment, however. Pardon my perhaps misplaced pride, but I assume someone feels threatened by what I offer there.
Please wish me luck!
John M. Knapp, LMSW
http://KnappFamilyCounseling.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment