RSSConfirmed: Time Warner Cable users impacted by DDoS attack
By Scott M. Fulton, III | Published February 26, 2009, 5:20 PM
When users of Time Warner Cable systems report issues concerning slow broadband performance affecting a wide region, they've been happy to see prompt responses from JeffTWC -- one Jeff Simmermon, who's the company's New York-based Director of Digital Communication. In recent days, though, Simmermon's Twitter feed has been exploding with complaints.
As it turned out, there's a serious reason for concern, as Simmermon explained in a longer-than-Twitter post late yesterday: Time Warner Cable systems are the apparent target of an orchestrated denial-of-service attack.
"Over the past 7 days, hackers have launched a series of DOS attacks on Time Warner Cable's DNS servers, affecting customer experience in our Southern California and National regions," reads the statement served by A Long Reply. "Subscribers in those areas would have seen intermittent 'page cannot be displayed' errors as their DNS queries timed out. The outage did not result in DNS services being 100% unavailable; the outage was limited to sporadic timeouts which appeared to be random events."
Simmermon authenticated his comments to Betanews this afternoon (his name actually had not appeared in the actual reply, so we were the first to validate it, he told us). He was unable to provide specifics at this time about the nature of the attack, which is disabling some but not all DNS requests, in what appears to be a random pattern.
"These attacks are generally uneven," he told us. "Some users will get a total lockout, some will get a slower browsing experience. It's sort of random." Simmermon added that he believes customers have a right to feel upset about diminished service, which is why TWC is doing all it can to mitigate the problem, including some measures we may only hear details about after a successful outcome.
Simmermon's longer-than-Twitter reply stated that the company did start implementing serious countermeasures early Tuesday evening, describing them as "amplified and expanded early detection and response to this sort of problem." He has not been told, however, whether those countermeasures may generally slow down customers' throughput in the affected areas.
"Whoever these people are that are perpetrating this attack, they're not just raising the ire of the corporate bigwigs," Simmermon said, echoing the frustration he's seeing from customers on Twitter and elsewhere. "They're affecting everybody's experience. It's not just frustrating to companies; it's affecting real friends, real neighbors, everyone who uses a computer."
I guess the 100 ton elephant that BOTH sides are avoiding is that TW and others can play with restricting traffic all they like.
But they might want to spend just a bit more time dealing with fundamental security issues FIRST!
And obviously they have NOT. As security includes safeguards and procedures for dealing with Dos attacks as well as an extensive amalgam of other safeguards.
Heretofore the 'big' issue in the eyes of consumers has been the potential for someone to hop on their wireless router which lacked any form of security(WEP turned off by default!), or an only slightly hardened security.
Or we listen to the emotional ire of those who seek to point fingers and debate whomever they imagine are the sources of this. But they do nothing except vent. Lots of noise with nothing done to remediate and avoid the problem. Boy, thats rare nowadays...and oh so meaningful. LOL!
But this network is an example of a wide open avenue available for exploit, with LOTS of attached potential targets (and no, I am not even referring to your precious personal computers ad MP3 libraries!). All one has to do is to do is to TRANSPARENTLY compromise terminals on the network and use them to access OTHER resources that are then available! (Oh, and according to current case law, the owner of the said terminal/PC is liable for the transgression. Oh...)
The network is simply a vector. And a very viable one.
Thus while some are focusing soley on the inconvenience this has caused, others might want to consider their own exposure and potential liabilities as they simply wait for 'others' to solve the problem.
The irony is that it is most likely terminals like their own that have been compromised and are generating the Dos attack! ...For which THOSE poor witless souls are also legally liable for the damages caused!
I wonder...what truly effective precautions have you taken? And why doesn't TW and the other network providers provide clear best practice guidelines and actively assist and insist that consumers adhere to them?
Score: -3
|Foxfyre I'm not sure exactly what you're rambling about but let me sum up the notion of network security, which you're probably saying is self-awareness.
I can guarantee the network you're using right now is vulnerable. I understand you're saying everyone should research and prepare themselves, but it's a moot point in the big picture. Network Security and the hackers trying to circumvent it, is a fight that is evolving so fast, nobody can keep up. Even people with unlimited resources, like the US Government are still vulnerable -- nobody is trying to keep that information safe?
The REAL 100 ton elephant is what motivates that 13 year old to use their ideas for destruction rather than doing something constructive. We've created the machines but they're only secure as the people running them, and those people are only as secure as long as someone with MORE TIME doesn't come along with a motive of getting into their system.
It's a never ending battle. Did you know there are WEP-key crackers? Anyone with a lap-top can come along and merely listen in on your encrypted session for a few minutes, and crack your key in a small amount of time.
But don't worry about that, you're wondering about everyone else. You are your own worst enemy on this argument. You'd be better served trying to get these disillusioned kids something better to do than wreaking havoc on this large networks, as long as the motivation is there nobody is secure.
Score: 0
|Most articles I'm reading on this are giving the impression this is limited to southern California, I'm in Missouri and have been feeling the effects for the same period, tonight it's the worst. (I'm glad it could happen when KZ2 is released for PS3, no wonder I have time to post about this.)
I found someone posting a reply talking about Time Warner's shipping american jobs over seas as being the reason for the attacks. I would like to voice the following everywhere I can in response to that person:
Everywhere we are hearing about unemployment numbers here in the USA reaching 8%, and with the government extending entitlements to those out of work. I would like everyone to follow the train of thought here:
"I have lost my job. I have technical abilities to launch a massive attack like this. I am going to use my abilities to launch such an attack instead of using my resources to get another job."
Whoever launched this attack does have extensive technical abilities, and it's no wonder the economy is in such terrible shape if that is the response our capable workers have whenever they lose their jobs.
This person has the ability to make an enormous revenue stream of their own, but chose to make life miserable for people using the service. This does not hurt the company -- they still collect for services rendered despite the attacks -- it hurts the AMERICAN PEOPLE using the service, the same AMERICAN PEOPLE they are "fighting for."
I am now off the soap box, but consider the train of thought, with their entitlements increasing to where they can still afford internet service to launch their attacks, why should they get a job? Think of the intelligence that is at work here destroying something instead of creating a product others want to buy in a recession... hmm...
I would like to add that the person going around posting this garbage complaint is being seen in many articles, named "WARBMAN", I would think the authorities should look in that persons direction, since they are making it such a duty to tell EVERYONE about the cause. Imagine that, he has posted here!
Score: 0
|I'm on TW (at home) and noticed slowdowns only during night time ....
called in for tech support but was turned down by a phone message
stating TW was aware of the issue and they were working to fix it promptly
Score: 0
|Time Warner Executives are subverting visa laws by allowing foreign operatives to displace American workers using WebX. WebX allows foreign operatives work from another nation and replace most any job in their organization without conforming to Visa laws. Thus Executives and the CEO is able to enrich themselves while putting another American Family on the street. They are quite calculated in their search for profits and know no mercy or social responsibility.
I support the hacker attack on the Time Warner Executives because of their unscrupulous and unconventional war tactics that they wage on American employees.
I hope the attacks intensify because it is the only way to help American families feed their children. We need the jobs here on American soil. When the Executives stop waging unconventional warfare on their employees I expect the attacks to diminish.
If TW CEO’s and Executives continue to wage unconventional warfare against their employees then I will cancel my service.
Score: -6
|Sorry Warbman but what you are supporting is unethical! The hackers activities are equivilent to attacking civilians: i.e. terrorism. The people that are harmed are the customers of TW, not TW itself.
Feel free to cancel your service. At least that is properly targeted against your enemy rather than innocents.
Score: 3
|What about teleworkers in SoCal who can't do their job because of these attacks? What about people contributing the the US economy by making purchases online, students doing research, people selling on eBay? The list goes on.
Score: 0
|You're being incredibly shortsighted. While it may be true that Time Warner gets around visa laws by using WebEx, it is not true that a DDoS attack on them would feed American children. I use my Time Warner connection for both of my jobs. A DDoS attack would TAKE food from my children's mouths rather than give it to them. It would do the same to thousands of telecommuting workers here in the US who are American-born and work hard to keep the American economy alive.
Instead of siding with cyberterrorists, why not just cancel your service with Time Warner and write them a letter telling them what you're upset about? That would go a lot farther than an attack on their networks.
Score: 0
|http://www.opendns.com/
NOW will you try openDNS ??
Did I mention I'm on TW in SoCal with no DNS issues?
Score: 0
|i hope their tech support are answering with, "here are 'alternate' dns servers, fill in the blanks while we work this out..." but i doubt it, more likely making folks wait on hold with little support
what did tech support tell anybody after calling them up?
Score: 0
|Well, I called them last week because I was having DNS problems. I could ping the server's IP but I couldn't get the IP using their DNS. I tried their chat support but they told me to call them instead. I did and after wasting 30 minutes trying to explain the problem, the other person on the line kept insisting that the server I was trying to access was down and to try again later. They recommended me to use my laptop with another network/ISP and see if I could access the server.
Then I found out about OpenDNS, started using it and haven't had any problem since.
Score: 0
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