NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Botnets and bandwidth caps
It doesn't take a lot of imagination to see how existing distributed malicious botnets could be configured to such a destructive purpose quite easily, and they could offer it as a "service" just like spam. They'd be running up the meter both on the contaminated sites doing the transmitting and of course on the target sites who would really be getting blasted. And there's such a wide range of data types that they could use to keep the usage meters spinning merrily, and basically little or nothing really effective that targeted end users could do to stop cap attacks in progress other than to tell the ISP to shut down the service entirely -- which of course could well be one purpose of the attacks in the first place! And remember, TW is talking about caps ranging from 5 GB to 40 GB, with per GB charges for exceeding your level. It's not as if attackers even need to reach 250 GB for everyone to cause plenty of grief. The ramifications of caps and usage sensitive pricing in today's Internet environment are even nastier than is obvious at first glance. --Lauren-- NNSquad Moderator - - - > ... > [ Or ... what about fun-loving folks who decide to amuse > themselves by just pouring masses of "invisible" data 24/7 at > selected addresses -- for the purpose of running those addresses' > bandwidth usage into the stratosphere? Do it "right" and most > ... > > Combine this with Comcast's "one byte over and you're history" policy > and you have a great DOS attack. Don't like someone? Dump data at > them to get them kicked off. And, for many, there are no viable > alternatives. > > Now add in the fact that there is no way for the target to find out > while it's happening. I just can't wait for the ex-spouses to get > into the act. > > Craig >