Ongoing DDoS knocks FTC.gov offline, hits others

If you tried to visit the FTC’s Web site Monday, you probably noticed that it was down. The FTC told The IDG News Service that it’s looking into the cause of the outage, but as their tech staff is well aware, they’ve been under a DDoS attack since around July 4, and they’re not the only ones.

According to my sources, who have been monitoring the attack that took down the FTC,  the FAA, Treasury Department, the Department of Transportation and even the Secret Service have all been hit as well. To date, FTC.gov seems to be the only site that has crashed.

My sources also tell me that it would be wrong to think of this as an attack on U.S. Government sites alone. Some other big sites have been hit, in what may be a test of the attack.

Politically motivated? Test of a new DDoS tool? Who knows?

I think we’ll have more information on Tuesday, but if you’re seeing any interesting DDoS activity out there, drop me a line. I think quite a few people are trying to figure this one out right now.