The FBI has warned US web sites and internet service providers
of the risk that they may suffer denial-of-service attacks,
possibly emanating from Western Europe. The warning was issued
after the US National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC)
received “credible, but non-specific” information from the Italian
authorities on the afternoon of 5th August 2002.
In its alert, the FBI has recommended that web site and ISP
administrators should “heighten their awareness of network traffic”
and report any “suspected malicious activities to their local FBI
offices.” The alert did not specify which networks were at risk or
which groups or individuals were suspects.
There has been official confirmation that an unusually large
volume of data (about 700% more traffic than usual) was directed to
ISPs and web sites on the East coast, but then shifted toward the
West, the Associated Press reported.
It appears that the impact has been limited and no outages have
been reported so far.
The NIPC has reported that network traffic will continue
monitored and the alert will be updated if any additional
information is received.
