I'm only on twitter occasionally. I sometimes have trouble with Facebook but if I retry, it works. So far ive had trouble here but not since a few days ago.
Although specific sites might be targeted, any other sites along the same Internet pathway can be affected, so this is likely the cause of the trouble we've had here and elsewhere lately.
I don't use those sites that often, but it is good to know nonetheless. Companies really need to shore up or infrastructure so we are not as vulnerable to these cyber attacks, but it will probably take some doing, and some sophistication. I am amazed that Paypal hasn't been hacked. They must have great security. Maybe they could help some of these other well known entities.
Ebay is down, keeping me from working at all! This attack is apparently only affecting the East Coast and those whose internet routes through the East Coast. Aside from being irritating to those of us affected, I find it disconcerting and then some, due to the fact that it is, among other things, a show of power. If they can black those entities off the internet in a portion of the country as large as this one, it's easy to see that they could conceivably do so to the entire country. What they've done s really simple. They've taken control of 10,000 or more cable modems and pointed them all at one spot: a place along the route between the end users' computers and the bulk of important sites. It's akin to blowing up a major bridge. Imagine that there is a bridge in Missouri which connects the country to New York. Further imagine that it is the only bridge to New York; there is no other way to get to New York. Now imagine someone wants to keep people from getting to New York. Rather than block all of the freeways and roads leading there to the bridge in Missouri, that someone can simply collapse the bridge in Missouri by putting more weight on the bridge than it can handle.
It doesn't help that Congress gave the Internet to the United Nations, which lessens our control over its fate.
Photobucket is not working for me. That is a trivial thing. But we are so dependent on the internet that I find it frighting that it can be disrupted so easily. @Michelle Anderson , how do they take control of 10,000 modems? Is it possible for someone to take control, say for instance, mine?
Maybe this is the reason for the error in connecting to some websites recently. For some minutes or hours some sites could not be accessed because the DNS server was down. Every once in a while that error occurs. The only logical explanation we can think of is what the message means - that the server holding the database of website addresses is down. The attack seems to be a more plausible reason because the problem occurs from time to time.
@Shirley Martin , Photobucket has always had issues for me. I don't use it too much now so don't know but in the past on another forum it would be down sometimes.
I just checked and it's very slow for me today but not down. I've had it completely down before. Facebook is probably one that's down for me the most.
The most efficient -- and by far the most common -- way is through trojans, or what many people refer to as a virus. When you click on the trojan because you believe it's an authentic communique from your school, bank, friend, etc., it places a small app on your program which allows the person who originally sent it -- or their friends/associates -- to control your computer when the time comes.
My computer is a being a bit screwy, but it is virus and malware free according to scans. I am a bit behind on windows updates, maybe that is the reason. The whole idea of cyber attacks are so scary. What is really scary is when hackers can hold your computer, and all the information contained therein hostage, and money has to be paid in order to get access to your own information!