JANUARY 28, 2009 Kyrgyzstan Knocked Offline
By CHRISTOPHER RHOADS Wall Street Journal http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123310906904622741.html A Russian "cyber-militia" has effectively knocked the central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan offline in recent days, according to an Internet security expert, in the latest apparent example of geopolitical tensions playing out on the Web. Since Jan. 18, the country of 5.3 million has come under a massive cyber-attack, according to Don Jackson, director of threat intelligence at Atlanta Internet security firm SecureWorks Inc. The denial-of-service attack -- which swamps Web sites with so many hits that they are forced to shut down -- has targeted the two main Internet service providers in the country, which account for more than 80% of Kyrgyzstan's bandwidth, according to Mr. Jackson. The episode has shut down Web sites and made emailing impossible, he said. "We are concerned about this in terms of our own readiness and preparedness," said Mr. Jackson. Less than 20% of the Kyrgyz population is online; such an attack would have a bigger impact on the economy of a place like the U.S., with nearly 75% of the country online, according to internetworldstats.com. A spokesman at the Russian embassy in Washington couldn't be reached for comment. The Kyrgyz government couldn't be reached for comment. U.S. officials couldn't immediately be reached for comment. Theories for the reason behind the current attack in Kyrgyzstan center on the U.S. use of an air base in the country to help with its military operations in Afghanistan. Another theory is that the attack was directed at the fledgling Kyrgyz opposition movement, which has used the Internet to express its discontent. ================================================= George Antunes Voice (713) 743-3923 Associate Professor Fax (713) 743-3927 Political Science Internet: antunes at uh dot edu University of Houston Houston, TX 77204-3011 *********************************** * POST TO [email protected] * *********************************** Medianews mailing list [email protected] http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
