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FBI site struck by Web attack



Remember how the FBI was closing in on the Trinoo vandals who hit e*trade,
yahoo etc? Well not only are they (whoever they are) still at large, but
the wacked the FBI web server a week later.
P
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FBI site struck by Web attack
By  The Associated Press
February 25, 2000, 4:05 p.m. PT
http://home.cnet.com/category/0-1005-200-1558533.html

     WASHINGTON--The FBI said today that electronic vandals shut down its
Web site for hours last week in the same type of attack that disrupted
some of the Internet's major commercial sites.

     The bureau's Web site remained inaccessible for more than three hours
Feb. 18 because vandals overwhelmed it by transmitting spurious signals.

    "The FBI has made comments they're going to find who's responsible for
the latest attacks, so it's a bit of war between the hackers and the
bureau," said James Williams, a Chicago lawyer and former FBI agent who
specialized in investigating computer crimes.

     The technique, which doesn't require particular sophistication, is
similar to repeatedly dialing a phone number to block all other incoming
calls. Last year, the FBI pulled down its Web site for days after hackers
overwhelmed it using the same type of attack.

     No one has claimed responsibility for launching last week's attack
against the same law enforcement agency that is investigating serious
disruptions earlier this month at Yahoo, eBay, E*Trade, Amazon.com and
others.

    "Pretty much anyone is a target," said John McGowan, a research
engineer at ICSA.net, a computer security firm. He wasn't surprised that
no one has claimed credit.

    "I don't think I'd want to go around bragging that it was my group
that shut down the FBI," McGowan said. "They're certainly turning up the
carpets and looking for anything they can find."

     The FBI said last week that it couldn't determine whether the problem
was a technical fault or malicious attack, but spokeswoman Deborah
Weierman confirmed today that vandals were responsible. She declined to
say whether there was any evidence, other than the coincidence in timing,
to link last week's attack against the FBI to those against other Web
sites.

     The FBI noted that its computers weren't broken into, and that its
affected Web site is separate from all its internal systems, including
investigative files. "We have had no more problems since then," Weierman
said.

     Engineers at IBM, who run the FBI's Web site under a federal
contract, "took the appropriate steps to get our Web site back and running
(and)  continue to look into remedies and actions to minimize this from
happening again," Weierman said.

  Copyright 2000 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.