07 August 2009

Major internet attacks blamed on blogger vendetta

Widespread internet attacks which caused major problems for Twitter, Facebook and other major websites yesterday may have been the result of a coordinated attack against a single controversial blogger.

According to the Guardian Max Kelly, chief security officer of Facebook - one of the main sites affected by the attacks, claims that the strike was an attempt to silence an outspoken internet user known only by the alias Cyxymu, a Georgian whose critical blog condemns last year's war in South Ossetia between Georgia and Russia.

As the one-year anniversary of the conflict arrived, it is believed that an organised assault from angry internet users aimed to silence his criticism.

Kelly states: "It was a simultaneous attack across a number of properties targeting him to keep his voice from being heard.

"We're actively investigating the source of the attacks and we hope to be able to find out the individuals involved in the back end and to take action against them if we can."

The attacks saw social networking site Twitter being taken offline for much of Thursday, and also caused severe problems for Facebook and blogging service LiveJournal. Google reported it had been able to prevent any serious damage, despite some users reporting temporary problems.

The culprits behind the assault have yet to be discovered, but Cyxymu explained in one blog message that he had received hundreds of spam emails, and apologised to anyone who had been directed to his website by spammers claiming to be him.

Security experts believe this to be a personal vendetta rather than a more serious criminal act aimed at blackmailing the major websites involved. If proven to be an organised strike, this would be one of the most extensive and coordinated attacks in internet history.