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Tuesday, August 31, 2004
DOJ Accuses Six Of Crippling Rivals’ Web Sites
Among the more than 150 cybercrime arrests and convictions announced Thursday by the Department of Justice was an original: the nation’s first case alleging denial of service attacks against competitors to knock them offline.
According to Attorney General John Ashcroft, six men were indicted this week by a federal grand jury in California on multiple charges for hiring hackers to launch denial-of-service (DoS) attacks against competitors. The case illustrates “the increased use of the Internet to damage rival businesses and communicate threats for commercial advantage,” said Ashcroft in a statement.
The DoS attacks knocked Obit competitor Weaknees.com, a Los Angeles-based online retailer, offline for two weeks. After that, similar DoS attacks were launched against Rapid Satellite of Miami Beach, Fla., and Expert Satellite of Worcester, Mass.
According to affidavits filed by the FBI in the Central District of California federal court, one of the ISP’s hosting a targeted site suffered more than $1 million in losses. That same ISP also hosted the web sites of the Department of Homeland Security and Amazon.com, both of which were temporarily disrupted by the attacks, said the FBI.
http://www.securitypipeline.com/news/45200006;jsessionid=FUTFCA5YF4FUWQSNDBCSKHY