US warns of possible new year computer blitzes

Jim Wolf

WASHINGTON: Computer users should take extra precautions to avoid possible

cyber attacks over New Year's weekend, US law enforcement authorities have

warned.

Citing FBI investigations and other information, the National Infrastructure

Protection Center said Thursday in an advisory note on its Web site that

distributed denial-of-service attacks "could occur over the holiday."

In such an event, one or more hackers break into unprotected computers, which

are then commandeered to join in sending huge amounts of data to swamp a target

Web site and render it inoperable.

Several security companies have cited the threat of such assaults, "and

some have taken place already," said the infrastructure protection center,

headquartered at the FBI.

In February, denial-of-service attacks knocked out Web sites run by Yahoo,

Amazon.com, eBay, Datek Online, ZDNet, Buy.com and others for hours.

The authorities urged network administrators to double-check the

configuration of security barriers known as firewalls to ward off possible

attacks.

In addition, they recommended the use of a program created by the center,

"Find DDOS," to determine if a network has been victimized with

malicious code known as a Trojan. Such code can turn a computer into a kind of

zombie. The diagnostic tool can be downloaded through the center's Web site, http://www.nipc.gov.

"Systems administrators should also consider updating their virus

definitions daily and performing thorough scans for viruses and worms," or

malicious code, the advisory said.

Repeating standard advice for avoiding destructive viruses and intrusions, it

warned against opening e-mail attachments that come from unknown or suspect

sources.

In a case of malicious code, such attachments may have been transmitted

without the sender's consent if triggered by a virus or a Trojan, the center

said.

Denial-of-service attacks have been mounted ever more effectively since the

widely reported wave in February but have drawn less publicity, said the

advisory, the latest in a series put out by the center.

(C) Reuters Limited 2000.