Lawmakers Want FCC's Shaky DDoS Claims Investigated Lawmakers are calling for an investigation into the FCC's increasingly shaky claim that it was a DDoS attack -- not people outraged by the agency's plan to kill net neutrality -- that was to blame for an outage of the FCC's public comment system. You'll recall that shortly after HBO Comedian John Oliver's most recent video on net neutrality, the FCC's website comment system collapsed under the load of annoyed viewers, leading to numerous reports on how net neutrality's popularity had once again crippled the FCC's systems.

But the FCC shortly thereafter came out with a statement claiming that it wasn't a massive backlash to the agency's actions that crippled the website, but a DDoS attack coincidentally conducted at the exact same time Oliver's program aired. The problem? Security experts doubted the claim, stating they'd seen none of the usual botnet or other online activity that traditionally precedes such attacks. Similarly skeptical reporters reached out to the FCC for further details, but the agency refused to comment or provide hard detail. That led many to wonder if the agency was simply lying in a rather silly effort to create a bogus counter-narrative to the obvious, overwhelming support for net neutrality highlighted by Oliver's latest segment. Smelling blood, several lawmakers are now pushing for an investigation into the FCC's DDoS claims, Senator Brian Schatz and Congressman Frank Pallone Jr. urging the General Accounting Office to do a full assessment of the attack and the FCC's cybersecurity defense practices. “While the FCC and the FBI have responded to Congressional inquiries into these DDoS attacks, they have not released any records or documentation that would allow for confirmation that an attack occurred, that it was effectively dealt with, and that the FCC has begun to institute measures to thwart future attacks and ensure the security of its systems,” the duo said As a result, the pair stated, “questions remain about the attack itself and more generally about the state of cybersecurity at the FCC -- questions that warrant an independent review.” The claim of the DDoS attack was made by former FCC Chief Information Officer David Bray, who claimed the FCC reached that conclusion after thorough "analysis." But subsequent FOIA requests have indicated that no such analysis happened. Subsequent reports have since highlighted that Bray falsely claimed the FCC website suffered from a DDOS attack back when the system failed back in 2014, again due to angry John Oliver viewers interested in protecting net neutrality. All told, it's not that likely that these lawmakers care all that much about the integrity of the FCC comment system, and are more interested in catching Ajit Pai and his team in what appears to be a rather ham-fisted lie; one apparently designed to downplay backlash to their frontal assault on popular net neutrality rules. All told, it's not that likely that these lawmakers care all that much about the integrity of the FCC comment system, and are more interested in catching Ajit Pai and his team in what appears to be a rather ham-fisted lie; one apparently designed to downplay backlash to their frontal assault on popular net neutrality rules.







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Most recommended from 16 comments



Packeteers

Premium Member

join:2005-06-18

Forest Hills, NY ·Verizon FiOS

·Charter

Asus RT-AC3100

(Software) Asuswrt-Merlin

15 recommendations Packeteers Premium Member just another lier 70% of everything potus trump says is lie and misdirection.



why should a.pai act any different under this administration.



senate & congress are just going after this because they can,



not cause they care. the root problem lives in the white house. trekologer

join:2005-10-20

Bridgewater, NJ 14 recommendations trekologer Member The lack of transparency by the FCC should be a concern to all The FCC has claimed they were hit by a DDoS attack but so far have refused to provide any proof to the public, media, or Congress to backup their claims. When pressed for the details, the FCC has provided generalities but no details. When pressed for details on how they detect and mitigate cyber attacks, they've refused.



Whatever your thoughts in Net Neutrality, the FCC, or this current Administration, the lack of transparency and purposeful obfuscation of issues should be a serious concern and we should expect better from our government.

TIGERON

join:2008-03-11

Boston, MA 9 recommendations TIGERON Member Pai is a lying sack of shit The man has a history of shady business dealings throughout his career.

Anone0d0c

@wavecable.com 9 recommendations Anone0d0c Anon This seems rather easy to find out Supoena the server host with the network logs? techguru308

join:2016-05-19

Cincinnati, OH 4 recommendations techguru308 Member I think the FCC's claims need to be investigated. I think the FCC's claims need to be investigated. If an DDoS attack occurred that should be investigated by the FBI and the FCC should make changes to the security software to try to mitigate future attacks. If this was untrue and if it was John Oliver's show Last Week Tonight that caused an overwhelming traffic for posting support for keeping net neutrality rules then FCC Chairman Ajit Pai should be made to appear in congress to answer for his lies and agency's lack of transparency.