FCC Claims of Website 'DDoS Attack' Look Flimsier Than Ever

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. 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.

Efforts to get more detail on the supposed attack haven't fared any better. Back in May, FCC chief information officer David Bray claimed that a extended FCC "analysis" had revealed that the FCC was "subject to multiple distributed denial-of-service attacks," and that said analysis concluded the attack was a "deliberate attempt by external actors to bombard the FCC’s comment system with a high amount of traffic to our commercial cloud host."

But Gizmodo this week reports that the website filed a Freedom of Information Act with the FCC asking for more data on the attack, only to discover that the FCC never did any such analysis. The analysis appears to have never taken place.

And the FCC is refusing to release over 200 pages of documents that could help clarify the matter, Gizmodo notes.

"Some of the records, it says, contain 'trade secrets and commercial or financial information' which it deems 'privileged or confidential,' citing the Trade Secrets Act," said Gizmodo. "Other documents were withheld in an effort to 'prevent injury to the quality of agency decisions,' citing a FOIA exemption that typically protects attorney-client communications but also extends to documents that reflect 'advisory opinions, recommendations and deliberations' as part of the government’s decision-making processes."

Consumer advocates were quick to argue that this kind of suspicious behavior, false claims and lack of transparency is part and parcel for an agency critics say takes its marching orders directly from the nation's biggest broadband providers.

"They’ve continuously refused to provide meaningful answers to basic questions about these alleged DDoS attacks, and have utterly failed to address very serious issues that have plagued their comment process and interfered with the public’s ability to participate," said Evan Greer, executive director of consumer advocacy group Fight for the Future.

"If the agency continues to move forward with their unpopular plan to dismantle net neutrality protections without addressing these concerns," Greer continued, adding that "they’re exposing themselves as a rogue bureaucracy that is working for the likes of Comcast and Verizon, not in the public interest."

The mystery attack and the FCC's failure to police proceeding comments rife with fraud will all certainly be popping up in the lawsuits filed against the agency after it votes to finalize killing the rules later this year.