Baddies release potent dDos software for Iot.

How really very kind of him....NOT!!

The CONCEPT can have some value, but the IMPLEMENTATION almost universally stinks from a security perspective. Both my TVs, my DVR, and my DVD player have and internet connection, but they are also behind 2 routers and a firewall, have had their default passwords changed, and can only be managed from INSIDE my home network. That makes them somewhat safe.

But how many 'normal' people even know to do that, much less know HOW to do that? It's a bloody TOASTER, why do I need to worry about security?

And the truth is, the end user shouldn't HAVE to. All they want is to make toast.

Until somebody starts doing prison time and companies start paying hefty fines for producing products that BY DESIGN make the Internet unsafe, the prevailing climate will not change.

I would think that over time the accumulating losses will compel most to seek a higher security state.
But when it comes to the 1% who the hell knows what they might do.

Someone has been taking the D-DOS attacks to new levels They hit a Major ISP switch board and making Netflix and many others unavailable to their customers

From what little I could get Our toasters and Microwaves are competing against us for bandwidth or perhaps just jamming the switch board.

As this post more or less predicts this occurrence...I came here for help understanding what's going on? Is this the next step in Putin's cyber war? Has anyone ever come up with a solution to DDOS attacks once they are launched against someone?

I live in the Seattle area, one of the areas hit...I saw no disruption at all?

Ah...We have two or more separate attacks.

The first.If I remember correctly 17 separate U.S.Intelligence agencies as well as several; of our allies pin this on Putin.This first one was the attack on Government and DNC servers as see on Wikil eaks

Putin's been pulling this crap in Europe for a while now Putin has made quite clear he wants to rebuild the USSR.

I see no reason to doubt it. This "we don't know who did it" is Trump . As far as I know Trump is the only one who doesn't know who did it. The USA is sure enough to openly say we are going to retaliate.

The current Ddos attacks have not, that I know of been pinned on anyone. Though I think most everyone sees it as Putin warning Obama not to retaliate For the hacks on the DNC

What we are going after Putin for is the hacking of our Gov. and DNC Servers This was not rushed nor is our retaliation rushed. But new stuff on this pops up nearly everyday.

Be careful, because you are conflating separate and unrelated issues.

The DNC hack and the hack on Hillary's e-mail server are quite probably the result of Russian hackers, based on everything I've been reading. Those are HACKS, not DDOS attacks. Completely different animal.

A HACK is an unauthorized attempt (successful or not) to gain access to restricted resources (e-mail, files, databases, servers, PCs, laptops, etc.)

A DDOS is in many ways the exact OPPOSITE; it is an attempt to PREVENT access to resources by ANYONE. In this sense, changing a password could be viewed as a DDOS, if doing so prevents normally authorized people from having access.

So far, there have been THREE different DDOS attacks of unprecedented volume:

1. krebsonsecurity.com - taken down by a DDOS attack involving at least 150,000 IOT devices, peaking at 620 Gb/s of throughput. Thought to be in retaliation for Brian Krebs' expose on the authors of vDOS, a DDOS-tool-for-hire service. The attack was so large that Akamai, which had been providing DDOS mitigation services to him for free, had to stop because it was overloading their service and affecting paying customers. Krebs is now using Google's Project Shield.
2. OVH - a French ISP targeted by a DDOS attack that exceeded 1100 Gb/s. I have not been able to find a reason for this attack. They suffered multiple attacks over a 48-hour period. Best guess is that some site they host was the actual target of the attack. It occurred at the same time as the Krebs attack.
3. DYN DNS - a commercial DNS service, was severely impacted by a massive DDOS attack involving "10s of millions of discrete IP addresses associated with the Mirai botnet that were part of the attack." The motivation of this attack is unknown, but one thought is that it was aimed at Sony's PSN.

There are lots of DDOS attacks happening all over the world at any given time; you can see a map here. These were different because of the fact that:

1. They were larger than anything ever seen before
2. They were found to be using botnets of compromised and relatively unsophisticated devices: web cams, dvd players, routers, and other IoT (Internet of Things) devices.

TBH, the Krebs attack makes sense to me. The others, not so much. I can't help but wonder if they weren't a smokescreen for something else.

I mean, think about it. If you had command of a botnet like this, and you were a bad guy, you could very VERY easily use it to hold a network hostage. But it hasn't been used that way. If <I> were behind this, and I had these kinds of resources to play with, <I'D> sure as heck use it as a smokescreen so that I could hack something more important at my leisure.

Wow. A lot in one post. I'll break it into pieces.

In any criminal activity, one should naturally blame the criminal, if one seeks justice.

That being said, we have to deal with reality, and reality is that if you leave your doors unlocked, you VASTLY increase the likelihood of being robbed. My own opinion is that as threats have evolved, our understanding of how to mitigate those threats has also evolved. There are basic things that ANY outfit running Information Technology should understand.

Yes, it's a vast crock-o-crap that we HAVE to do this, but until we get tired of putting up with the attacks and actually start finding, capturing, and punishing the people doing the attacks, we have to accept that this is how it is.

It's been commented that Clinton doesn't want to see the world burn because she wants power, which is useless if we're all dead.

I'm not convinced Clinton is fully in command of her faculties. Trump on the other hand, is completely, certifiably, NUTS (that's a technical term, BTW, Not Using Total Sanity ). I don't think it's a question of 'whether', but one of 'when'. Hopefully, someone around Clinton will be able to reign her in before things get out of hand. There's no question that there's no-one in the Trump camp that can control him, IMO.

I have been watching Putin for quite a while now...as so many others have.
Putin is one Evil mother. Syria alone puts Putin in hell by any moral measure I can think of.

As far as I know no one wants war with Russia. Russia knows this and is pushing EVERYONE as hard as Putin thinks he can.

Also as far as I know, No one thinks Putin is being picked on by the USA or anyone else...except Putin.
If any doubt our word that this is so they can ask their own intelligence agencies. Many have and none disagree with our assessment of who is doing what to whom. That I know of.

There is evil in the world. If we do not appose that evil, we become apart of it. We can not appease it as Evil knows no limitation. Evil knows no compromise. this being so, evil always devours it self even when it is victorious, it turns upon itself. "There can be only one" sums up the philosophy of Evil.

We are all going to die, our only choice is how we wish to live. and even that choice is circumspect and limited.

I don't fear tyrants, I fear those who would capitulate the world to them in exchange for the illusion of peace. There is no peace beyond inner peace.

Every thing that lives has some concept of self defense. Has knowledge of the unending war of nature fought not for supremacy but for one more breath of air. The outcome is never in doubt. We will all die.

In my view to remain consistent within our selves, to remain true to ourselves in the great battle of and for life

We must fight.

When something is wrong we must fight to make it right. This is true within the personality as well as in life in general. What IS always resists change, no matter how beneficial the change, there is always resistance. What IS wants to remain, what IS Becoming requires a reconfiguration of what is in order to advance, thus we see that conflict is inherent within our own natures and it is in nature in general. We are born to fight for our survival.

Putin wants to enslave mankind...he has no higher vision that this..."I SHALL RULE OVER ALL."

If he is not to rule over us we will have to fight. Do not blame the fight on our need to be free of Putin's dreams of power. Put the blame where it belongs, where it always belongs...upon the aggressor.

No tyrant has ever been appease by treaty or agreements. And what if the price is all out nuclear war?
I pray it is not... but I also pray that if it comes to that I am found by death while fighting for men to be free... there are worse things than death.

George...Do you really think the next president will have a choice? That the future of the world is in the next presidents hands? Do me and hopefully you a favor...go outside and look up. when your neck gets tired grow anther 6 inches. If you can not even comprehend what we see when we look up, nor can we change the most basic aspects of our lives..How could an of us truly rule this world?

We are quite simply ruled by the world. We have but one real freedom. We have a "Yes" and our "No"

We can be bullied by Putin or we can say no. No until the end of this world. Just our Yes and our No. Both lead to our death.Only one leads to the renewal of life.

Your opinions are always welcome. I seldom disagree with what you have to say.

I would like to take note of a certain irony in that Trump shares your view of Putin...at lest in part. strange bedfellows indeed! ":O}

George...it's well a good to say all my sources are corrupt and not to be trusted and That my opinion reflects my "lock step obedience:."

But you seem to imply that you do not rely upon those sources. But source unknown to me.
So illuminate me my brother..
So what makes you think your sources are telling you the truth?

I don't go to my world news sources for truth, but for facts. So are you saying your have more reliable news source for facts? Or that you take away a different truth from the same facts as I?