BANGALORE: Hackers continued to disrupt major Web sites for a third day as
the United States top law enforcement officials prepared to hold a briefing in
Washington on the brazen attacks that they appear powerless to stop.
The disruptions shifted to top financial sites including E-Trade Group, and
Datek Online Holdings Corp, after hitting Yahoo, Buy.com,
eBay, Amazon.com and CNN. The sites have been bombarded with so many messages
and during the incidents they are unable to continue operations, although most
have managed to recover within a matter of hours. Shares of e-commerce companies
dropped as investors were trying to figure out the repercussions especially
people's confidence in trading and buying on line. The companies were themselves
are taking steps to protect their web sites. Besides attacking the sites, the
attackers slowed down traffic on parts of the Internet.
The FBI has been investigating the attacks, but declined to make any new
comment ahead of a briefing planned later in the day by top officials from the
agency, as well as officials from the commerce department and attorney general
Janet Reno's office. The hackers so far have avoided detection by moving from
one computer network to another to cover their tracks, and by immediately
erasing any data that might identify them, computer security expert said. The
intensity of the attacks suggested a co-ordinated effort by more than one
person, although replicated attacks or a plan carried out by a single individual
were not ruled out, experts said.
Web sites were able to shut down the attacks after relatively short periods
by filtering the messages sent from scores of computers. But the attacking
computers themselves were simply "zombie" units taken over by unknown
hackers. Authorities were called in to probe further to find the command centres
for the attacks, a legal move that usually requires court-approved search
warrants.
"The fact is, usually these people are caught when they make themselves
known. If they're doing it to show off, their pride will dictate that they come
forward and take credit, said Network Associates PGP Security director of
security research Jim Magdych. "If they're doing it to make some sort of
political statement, then we might hear in a few days from them with something
like ‘Ok, we've established I can do this with impunity, and here's what it's
going to take for me to stop’."