FCC Refuses to Show Evidence of DDoS Attack 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 conducted at the exact same time Oliver's program aired.

Last week several security experts doubted the claim , stating they'd seen none of the usual botnet or other online activity that traditionally precedes such attacks. Numerous skeptical reporters reached out to the FCC for further details, but the agency refused to comment. That lead net neutrality advocates to wonder if the company was simply trying to deflate the narrative of overwhelming support for net neutrality. Those inquiries were followed by a letter from several Senators asking the FCC for some hard data on the DDoS attack. "DDoS attacks against federal agencies are serious - and doubly so if the attack may have prevented Americans from being able to weigh in on your proposal to roll back net neutrality protections," said Senator Ron Wyden in a letter. "Any potentially hostile cyber activities that prevent Americans from being able to participate in a fair and transparent process must be treated as a serious issue." The FCC says it will not be providing any hard data on the supposed attack. FCC chief information officer David Bray told ZDNet that the agency would not release the logs, in part because they contain private information including IP addresses (granted you could still release data with these addresses ommitted proving an intentionally malicious attack). Bray did confirm that FCC logs showed that non-human bots submitted a flood of comments using the FCC's API that contributed to the slowdown, but security experts argue this isn't technically a DDoS attack -- just a poorly made bot. From other reporting on this bot we know it was busy using fake names to post anti-net neutrality comments. In fact, roughy 40% of the 1.5 million comments filed with the agency so far appear to have come from this bot. But FCC boss Ajit Pai has indicated these comments will likely be counted by the FCC as genuine feedback.







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Most recommended from 31 comments



SteveV

join:2016-08-21

Williamsburg, VA 15 recommendations SteveV Member Why let facts get in the way? So, Pai knows the bot submitted comments are likely fake but he'll count them anyway? And congress is OK with this? Man, we are so screwed on so many levels.

TechyDad

Premium Member

join:2001-07-13

USA 15 recommendations TechyDad Premium Member Bot Comments From other reporting on this bot we know it was busy using fake names to post anti-net neutrality comments. In fact, roughy 40% of the 1.5 million comments filed with the agency so far appear to have come from this bot. But FCC boss Ajit Pai has indicated these comments will likely be counted by the FCC as genuine feedback. Because these comments were against Network Neutrality and the new FCC heads entered into this wanting to end Network Neutrality. Having tons of comments against Net Neutrality (even if they are written by bots using people's names without their permission) supports the conclusion they had before the comment period so those comments stay. If the bot comments were in favor of Net Neutrality, you can bet they'd have been discarded quickly.

whfsdude

Premium Member

join:2003-04-05

Washington, DC 11 recommendations whfsdude Premium Member bots "non-human bots," so what are human bots? ...is Ajit Pai a human bot programmed by Verizon?

Red Hazard

Premium Member

join:2012-07-21

O Fallon, IL 7 recommendations Red Hazard Premium Member Pai is squared Pai is either a technozero, dishonest, or both.

Eddy120876

join:2009-02-16

Bronx, NY 2 recommendations Eddy120876 Member This entire administration is The pure definition of bait and switch . They tell you one thing during the campaign and after winning they did a 360. Pai was just another Trump "specialist " put into leadership because this administration wanted the FCC customer protection destroyed.