Cyber expert warns: DDoS attacks likely to surge

The recent attempts of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) on websites have raised a red alert among several internet users around the world. Among them is an online edition of BLiTZ newspaper (weeklyblitz.net) owned by journalist Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury.

In a communication with Daily Research Editor, Mr Choudhury expressed that his website came under nefarious DDoS attack on 11 November 2020 and is still down due to over flooding of internet traffic.

According to information from Mr Choudhury, it was revealed that some articles published on above website were controversial and lacked thorough investigation, which might have ended up getting a severe attack on his website by hackers. However, Mr Choudhury admitted that there were some news items which were published lacking complete investigation and will certainly rectify the information given in those articles. Moreover, he assured for future articles; he would conduct systematic exploration and analysis before publishing on the website. Choudhury urged hacker to take back their DDoS attack.

Cyber policy and strategy expert, Gil Baram termed the attack to be very dangerous as there is a flood of sensitive data out there of governments, security firms and even journalists, that can be in the wrong hands causing serious damage. “It is surprising for me to think that data without attribution of the public is a major risk. There is a large number of cases which are not reported, and those take a long period to surface. The one’s which stayed under the radar has more chances of becoming vulnerable to serious threats.”

The cyber expert said that it is currently impossible to trace the root of attacks due to the complexity of the internet and advanced mechanism. He also added that it doesn’t matter how strong your security is the site can still become under the attack of DDoS again.

DDoS attacks are illegal under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and initiating a DDoS attack against a network will end up in the jail with hefty fines. Senior cybercrime official here at Tel Aviv said: “The fine can account up to US$500,000 along with imprisonment of up to 10 years.”

Further, the official said that this is a matter of serious crime and should be dealt with stringent actions. “Appropriate methods are being placed to trace the root of the attack to stop the DDoS attacks on the website.”

A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack is a malicious attack to disrupt the website and its traffic, service or network by overwhelming the target with flooding of internet traffic.

The website is owned by internationally acclaimed journalist Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, who has been awarded several times for his write-ups against terrorism and anti-jihad.