Another DDoS attack on LJ

[mahnmut]

State Blamed in LiveJournal Attack

LiveJournal Russia, the country's main platform for uncensored political discussion, recovered Tuesday from its biggest-ever hacker attack — which bloggers said could not have been staged without state resources.

The Cyrillic segment of the blogging service, which numbers 4 million Russian-language users, was first hit by a cyber attack last Wednesday.

Hackers used computers infected by malware, mostly in Asian and Eastern European countries, to flood the servers with requests, paralyzing them for seven hours. A second wave followed Monday, again rendering LiveJournal.com inaccessible in Russia.

Initial speculation suggested that the attacks had targeted individual bloggers, possibly Kremlin critics. Such incidents have taken place before. But LiveJournal management reported that the whole site had been targeted.

"The attack targeted dozens of top bloggers and communities" indiscriminately, said Ilya Dronov, development director with the site's owner, SUP.

"The reason for attack is more than clear in this case — someone wants LiveJournal to disappear as a platform," he said Tuesday in a post on his own LiveJournal blog, Igrick.

The hackers sought to leave the Russian blogosphere without a single stable platform to operate on, dispersing them to other social networks where "it's easier to fight individual users," Dronov wrote.

He stopped short of naming any names, predicting only that more attacks would follow. SUP will have to ship more powerful equipment to Russia to resist further attacks, Dronov said.

The company "doesn't exclude a lawsuit option," Svetlana Ivannikov, head of LiveJournal Russia, said late Monday in a statement. But she also identified no suspects.

Bloggers, however, minced no words, naming the Kremlin as the only power capable of staging such a large attack.

Anton Nosik, a prominent LiveJournal blogger and former director of SUP, wrote on Snob.ru that massive attacks require considerable administrative and "financial support."

He admitted that it was hard to estimate the attack's cost, but said the pro-Kremlin Nashi movement might be behind it because it was in the past accused — though not convicted — of hacking the blogs of opposition activists and of a cyber attack on the Estonian government's site.

Alexei Navalny, a popular blogger and anti-corruption activist, said the attacks were a start for the Kremlin's "counter-propaganda plan" ahead of the upcoming State Duma vote and presidential race.

The Kremlin has not commented on the accusations, while Nashi spokeswoman Kristina Potupchik said by telephone Tuesday that they were "some person's groundless assumptions."

Comments

[airiefairie.livejournal.com]

I could notice how some people are suffering a sort of dementia in the lack of LJ for several hours. The response to the blackout from bloggers was full of hysteria and desperation and anger. This tells a lot about people's addiction to the Internet.

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

And some instantly said they'd leave LJ (with a flounce of course, otherwise their entire sojourn on LJ would've been wasted, no?) As if other blogging sites aren't under the same threat as LJ is. In fact Twitter was also attacked. When those get attacked, where would you go?

It has become evident that the purpose of this attack is to disperse the now consolidated and concentrated Russian dissidents who are using LJ, and make them spread into other domains, where they could be taken separately and dealt with more easily. If anything, that's fascinating to watch unfolding.

I'm expecting this cat and mouse game between the LJ staff and the hackers to continue.

[nairiporter.livejournal.com]

I must be missing something. These articles keep saying that the Russian version of LJ has been attacked, that the Russian LJ is being taken down, etc. But no, the whole LJ was taken down, not just the Russian version, or the Cyrillic version, etc.

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

Yes, that was strange. I guess it's the Russo-centric inclination of the Russian sites who are writing the most about this case. What I found more confusing is how come LJ's new owner is said to be related to Putin, and yet it's now attacked by pro-Putin hackers. I mean, I can understand why Putin would want to put a hand on the main outlet of the dissidents, but why not just censor it once it's within his reach, instead of attack it like this? I think the truth about the purpose of these attacks surfaced pretty fast, and the outcry is mostly directed at the real culprit, so the Russian government's little strategy is about to backfire. And the Russian elections are coming next year.

[luvdovz.livejournal.com]

I see the story continues. 3rd episode now.

This post was very enlightening btw: http://community.livejournal.com/talk_politics/957323.html

And I'm sure Kol knows a lot more on the question than he's revealing so far. Which means: much more than zero.

[abomvubuso.livejournal.com]

[abomvubuso.livejournal.com]

Most probably these havent been the last DDoSs, although the LJ staff are reporting that they're going to bring in some better equipment in the next days. We'll see how this unfolds.

[ghoststrider.livejournal.com]

This is what happens when you knock down the shell of communism but leave all the communistic power structures in place. Without putting into place the institutions required for a free society, you're not going to get a free society. What we instead had in Russia was an oligarchy made up of former Communist Party members that dominated industry, the media, and civil service posts. That's not exactly a free society there.

Russia is now a proto-fascist country. I'm not saying its going to turn into the next Nazi Germany. But it's close. And we're going to feel the pain for quite some time.