Wikileaks Defies Ddos Attacks

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Wikileaks is still operational despite the fact that 4Chan, the group behind Anonymous, is being shut down by DDos attack.

The Wikileaks’ ability to stay functional has pivoted around its international nature. Every US firm that previously had relations with it has cut it off, so operations have moved to Europe where it would be much more difficult for the US to shut them down.

EveryDNS was the company previously allowing the Wikileaks.org address to be translated into an IP address, but they kicked Wikileaks off their servers because the attacks targeting Wikileaks was endangering the 500,000 other websites they service. For a brief time, Wikileaks was thus shut down.

However, third parties have contacted numerous European businesses that are now providing multiple alternate IP addresses to host the Domain. Taking Wikileaks down now would require targeting companies based in 14 different countries. Some of these organizations are sympathetic to Wikileaks’ plight, such as PRQ, a Swedish hosting firm that considers it committed to free speech. And of course Twitter has not ...
... abandoned Wikileaks either. The company was able to send the word out regarding the mirror sites via Twitter, including the main fall back address, a Swedish based URL that ends in .ch.

While some speculate that the attacks that finally brought down the .org version of the site with the same kind of attack that Wikileaks’ defenders used against Visa and MasterCard could ultimately be sourced to the US government, it is extremely unlikely.

A DDos (Distributed Denial of Service) attack that over loads a site’s servers requires thousands of computers to act in concerted effort. It is improbable that the US government, despite its public zeal to shut the website down, would be able or willing to do that. Considering the nature of the damaging leaks, the last course of action the US would take is an illegal one.

Despite these factors, it would be near impossible to pinpoint the source of the successful attacks on Wikileaks. The amount of computers needed to do the task could be commandeered without knowledge of their owners through a virus.

The lasting effect on the world after the Wikileaks event is that:

1. Governments will have to somehow climb the steep learning curve involved with transmitting sensitive national information in a wired ageâ€and fast.
2. The old adage that one man’s enemy is another man’s friend is just as true in the virtual world.

It is near impossible to control any kind of information over the Web. In testament to this, Wikileaks has announced that even if the site is permanently brought down, they have already released an encrypted file with each and every document in the embassy cables to the Web, via peer to peer networks such as BitTorrent.

The information is already out there; there is no turning back. Whatever there is to fear from those cables will be made public in a matter of time as they are vetted by media outlets.

The French government has had no success shutting down Wikileaks’ servers in France. Even if it was able to, Wikileaks would still be operational in London, Sweden and other countries. Whether you hate them or think they are a beacon of free speech, the whole affair illustrates the need to be able to control content online.