[liberationtech] Avaaz, is this for real?

[John Graham-Cumming]

They could just sign up with CloudFlare and get DDoS protection.

On Fri, May 4, 2012 at 6:34 PM, Andrew Couts <andrew_couts at yahoo.com> wrote:
> I just got this statement from Avaaz communications director Sam Barratt.
> It's still highly inadequate:
>
> Hi Andrew
>
> Sorry for the delay in getting back to you - the attack was for real I can
> assure you.  Below is a short statement we have issued, we are still looking
> into this and I will let you know when we can share more on what went on.
>
> Cheers
>
> Sam
>
> Avaaz statement on the attack on the site
> An attack on Avaaz’s website from a globally-distributed botnet of thousands
> of computers ended yesterday (Thursday 3rd May). Avaaz does not have any
> further information about who is behind it but the FBI have been notified
> about this incident.
>
> The DDOS attack lasted for 44 hours and finally ended on Thursday 3rd May
> which experts say "was a large and substantive attack."
>
> The site was down for 14 minutes on Wednesday 2nd May and our ability to
> send out global campaigns to our membership was affected during the attack.
>  In response, Avaaz has launched a fundraising campaign in order to create a
> defence fund to take its security to the next level.
>
> Andrew Couts
> Staff Writer
> Digital Trends
> acouts at digitaltrends.com
> Twitter: @andrewcouts
> www.digitaltrends.com
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Steve Weis <steveweis at gmail.com>
> To: Andrew Couts <andrew_couts at yahoo.com>
> Cc: "liberationtech at lists.stanford.edu" <liberationtech at lists.stanford.edu>
> Sent: Friday, May 4, 2012 1:00 PM
>
> Subject: Re: [liberationtech] Avaaz, is this for real?
>
> Hello Andrew. Your article asserts that this attack is happening as fact,
> yet you say that Avaaz did not provide any additional information. Which
> sources and evidence did you base your article on besides Avaaz's own press
> release?
>
> Claims of a "massive attack" are easy to confirm. Avaaz should be able to
> provide detailed logs of the attack, which can be verified by an independent
> security professional and corroborated by their hosting providers.
>
> If this does turn out to be a targeted denial of service attack,
> that certainly doesn't take real expertise or significant resources -- it's
> cheap to rent a botnet. It's a big leap to claim that a state actor or large
> corporation must be behind it.
>
> On Fri, May 4, 2012 at 9:18 AM, Andrew Couts <andrew_couts at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Hi - I'm the author of that Digital Trends article. I have repeatedly asked
> Avaaz for more information about the attack, and they have either said
> "We'll know more soon," or completely ignored me. I believe there is simply
> not enough information available yet to make accusations of fraud in the
> press. But I am doing my best to get answers about exactly this. I'll send
> out an update if they respond.
>
>
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