Online Computer Tips Home
Home All Tips OCT Newsletter Free Tutorials Tech News Resources

Friday, November 13, 2009

DNS Problem Linked to DDoS Attacks Gets Worse

ISPs are distributing consumer modems that could be used in DDoS attacks, researchers say. Internet security experts say that misconfigured DSL and cable modems are worsening a well-known problem with the Internet's DNS (domain name system), making it easier for hackers to launch distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against their victims.

According to research set to be released in the next few days, part of the problem is blamed on the growing number of consumer devices on the Internet that are configured to accept DNS queries from anywhere, what networking experts call an "open recursive" or "open resolver" system.

Because modems configured as open recursive servers will answer DNS queries from anyone on the Internet, they can be used in what's known as a DNS amplification attack.

Full Story

No comments: