Fake links to nude celebrities crash New Zealand Internet

[Lite Beer]

Fake links to nude celebrities crash New Zealand Internet

WELLINGTON - New Zealanders keen to view hacked photos of naked celebrities are being blamed for a nationwide Internet meltdown involving the country's main provider.

It is believed a handful of computer users clicked links on Friday evening believing they would take them to the illicit images, but instead they inadvertently installed malware triggering a crippling Internet attack.

It took telecommunications giant Spark, the rebranded Telecom Corp., until Sunday to fully repair what it termed a "dynamic" cyber-attack that overloaded its system covering more than 600,000 customers.

The intimate celebrity photos, which included actress Jennifer Lawrence and singers Avril Lavigne and Rihanna, were stolen from a cloud storage system.

Spark tweeted it was aware that when people clicked on some links they inadvertently installed malware "generating a high amount of traffic to overseas sites".

Computer security specialists Trend Micro issued an alert shortly before the attack began warning not to open the links related to the nude celebrities.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/Fake-links-to-nude-celebrities-crash-New-Zealand-I-30242714.html

-- The Nation 2014-09-07

[Costas2008]

After they get rid of the malware, can we have access to these links?

Not anything else, but to see what the fuss is all about.

[NeverSure]

It sounds like a DoS (Denial of Service) attack. Get enough computers infected with malware that will hit the ISP servers with countless requests all at once and everything goes down. The users don't have to make the requests, their computers do at a very rapid pace via the malware.

It say's "..crippling attack..." "overloaded its system" and I don't know what else that would be.

[zaphod reborn]

Good thing they didn't bait the kiwis with sexy pictures of sheep.

[Spoonman]

After they get rid of the malware, can we have access to these links?

Not anything else, but to see what the fuss is all about.

There is a torrent with all the pics available.

[Costas2008]

After they get rid of the malware, can we have access to these links?

Not anything else, but to see what the fuss is all about.

There is a torrent with all the pics available.

What good is to me to tell me there is a torrent?

Links please, links.................. or instructions how to I get this so called torrent.

[chooka]

After they get rid of the malware, can we have access to these links?

Not anything else, but to see what the fuss is all about.

[mikemac]

I knew those Kiwis were dirty buggers, but this is insane !

[Chicog]

It sounds like a DoS (Denial of Service) attack. Get enough computers infected with malware that will hit the ISP servers with countless requests all at once and everything goes down. The users don't have to make the requests, their computers do at a very rapid pace via the malware.

It say's "..crippling attack..." "overloaded its system" and I don't know what else that would be.

It might have been an attack on their DNS servers.

[wandasloan]

What good is to me to tell me there is a torrent?

Links please, links.................. or instructions how to I get this so called torrent.

Good grief. Here (real link, not a trick although I considered it):

http://bit.ly/1uqGlI2

.

[wirat69]

Good thing they didn't bait the kiwis with sexy pictures of sheep.

The article is about Kiwis, not Aussies!!

[JacChang]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

After they get rid of the malware, can we have access to these links?

Not anything else, but to see what the fuss is all about.

I think that picture is considered porn.

[Spoonman]

Good thing they didn't bait the kiwis with sexy pictures of sheep.

The article is about Kiwis, not Aussies!!

when it comes to relations with sheep the Welsh are in the #1 spot, The Kiwi's in the #2 spot.

However;

"Sheep shagging was first practised in 1563 as a competition to see how many sheep could be brought to orgasm in 5 minutes. The game was very popular in small welsh towns and was commonly played at local town fêtes and wedding receptions. It was not long before the idea moved from just a game into one of the most popular welsh pastimes. Pretty soon the concept spread to London, where it peaked interest with the male members of the royal family, it became more popular than royal cousin shagging, as the sheep could be roasted afterwards, removing all evidence. From there it has been carried to other lands, where strange people live in their little mud houses, watching their brand new plasma screen Tv's. As time progressed the game of sheep shagging died out and sheep shagging was no longer a social event however its concept remains to this day in the hearts of lonely welsh, it is most often practised at 11:15pm every night, after the local pubs have closed. It is not just the men who divulge in sheep debauchery, the women (from first post coital experience) often prefer the rams as the sex only lasts 10 seconds, and involves no talking afterwards. Sheep shagging is the biggest welsh past time nowadays, and is responsible for such cross breeding abominations as Tom Jones and Steve Strange".

[NeverSure]

It sounds like a DoS (Denial of Service) attack. Get enough computers infected with malware that will hit the ISP servers with countless requests all at once and everything goes down. The users don't have to make the requests, their computers do at a very rapid pace via the malware.

It say's "..crippling attack..." "overloaded its system" and I don't know what else that would be.

It might have been an attack on their DNS servers.

Could have, but I don't think it was a server hack. It sounds like a client attack causing the clients to overload the server - DoS. It wouldn't take that to corrupt DNS.

"...until Sunday to fully repair what it termed a "dynamic" cyber-attack that overloaded its system..."

[Chicog]

It sounds like a DoS (Denial of Service) attack. Get enough computers infected with malware that will hit the ISP servers with countless requests all at once and everything goes down. The users don't have to make the requests, their computers do at a very rapid pace via the malware.

It say's "..crippling attack..." "overloaded its system" and I don't know what else that would be.

It might have been an attack on their DNS servers.

Could have, but I don't think it was a server hack. It sounds like a client attack causing the clients to overload the server - DoS. It wouldn't take that to corrupt DNS.

"...until Sunday to fully repair what it termed a "dynamic" cyber-attack that overloaded its system..."

DNS amplification attack.

I win.

Although it appears that they are now blaming vulnerable modems rather than naked celebs.

The hackers appear to have instructed the vulnerable modems to bombard Spark's DNS (domain name) servers with fake requests and return addresses, causing an ever bigger deluge of traffic from those servers that was directed to swamp their targets in Eastern Europe. The attack is known as a "DNS amplification attack".

http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/security-it/spark-still-probing-new-zealand-internet-outage-20140908-10dtwi.html

[Chicog]

New Zealand's largest ISP, Spark, has spent the weekend fighting off a DDOS incorrectly assumed to have a connection with last week's nude celebrity picture scandal.

The ISP hit trouble last Friday, when it Tweeted that some of its subscribers had become infected with malware that was flooding its DNS servers and making it hard to access the web.

<snip>

During the attack, Spark suggested its customers point their browsers at Google's DNS servers, a handy workaround even if does mean a little more latency.

And the celebrity nudes angle? It's unverified. And likely a way to get you clicking on stories. ®

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/09/08/nude_celeb_pics_wrongly_blamed_for_ddos_at_new_zealands_largest_isp/

Edited September 8, 2014 by Chicog