How cyber attack used Internet to clog traffic

John Markoff and Nicole Perlroth, The New York Times

An escalating cyberattack involving an anti-spam group and a shadowy group of attackers has now affected millions of people across the Internet, raising the question: How can such attacks be stopped?

The short answer is: Not easily. The digital "fire hose" being wielded by the attackers to jam traffic on the Internet in recent weeks was made possible by both the best and worst aspects of the sprawling global computer network. The Internet is, by default, an open, loosely regulated platform for communication, but many of the servers that make its communication possible have been configured in such a way that they can be easily fooled.

The latest attacks, which appeared to have subsided by Wednesday, have demonstrated just how big a problem that can be.

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