New developments

 

iDEFENSE provides Intelligence-driven services—daily and flash reports, risk management, and certification—that allow clients to mitigate or avoid computer network, Internet and information asset attacks before they occur.
(http://www.idefense.com)

iDEFENSE Intelligence Services provide timely analysis of threats, incidents, vulnerabilities and countermeasures to help you understand and manage the risks associated with leveraging the Internet economy. This intelligence gives you a comprehensive picture of the cyber- landscape to manage the inherent risks, protect assets, provide business assurance, and maintain situational awareness of infrastructure integrity and security issues.

 

 

The effect of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attacks—just as the name suggests—is to deny users the ability to reach targeted web sites. If you are a business whose entire existence is defined by and conducted on your web site, that is everything. It is the Internet equivalent of a "brick & mortar" retailer discovering that someone has erected a wall in front of their entrance and display windows.
The result of these attacks means real financial loss for the victims. There are "hard" losses associated with lost sales and loss of customer access. Potentially adverse effects that we have yet to see materialize are reduced consumer and shareholder confidence. One of the victims, Buy.com, held its Initial Public Offering while under attack (probably the reason it was targeted), but still closed at double their initial offering price. However, one only needs to read Thursday’s financial headlines to understand the potential effect such attacks can have on a normally bullish market.

At this point, companies need to readdress their security posture and ensure "best practices" are being followed. Constant monitoring is essential. Check with your ISP’s regularly to ensure they are being proactive and monitoring for suspicious activity as well.

BEST PRACTICE:


http://www.idefense.com/ddosbrief.html


Intelligence Brief: Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attacks

What is a DDoS?

  • Someone who wants to attack your company downloads a "tool" from the Web
  • They then follow a simple list of directions to clandestinely install this tool on hundreds of servers, some of which may belong to your company.
  • These servers, now "compromised hosts", continue to work as usual, and the owners are unaware that virtual time-bombs are ticking.
  • Minutes, hours, days, weeks, months or years later the attacker decides to "launch" and sends a signal to one of more of these servers to initiate the attack.
  • The malicious code previously installed on the servers now take control and send billions of data packets to one pre-selected IP address…your company’s homepage.
  • Your server only allows a limited amount of access…once that limit is exceeded no one else, your customers or your employees, can access the system.
  • Depending on the specific tool, the attacker may be able to spoof the identity of the packet source, or send them in a random fashion, making it nearly impossible to identify and block the source of the attack.
  • You now have no choice: you have to shut your system down until the attack stops or you can have your ISP reconfigure upstream routers.

Steps to take ….

… You’ve been hit

  • Once you’ve been hit, about the best you can do is crawl to your ISP and beg for help. They’ll be able to shut down the router that serves your site. It stops the attack, but also stops everyone else from accessing your site.
  • If you or your ISP can identify where the packets are coming from, they can block access from those particular sources. However, some of the newer tools make this very difficult

… Be Proactive

  • Start by making sure your company is prepared in advance to respond quickly to such an attack
  • Have policies and procedures already in place, and make sure employees are familiar with these.
  • Identify 24x7 contacts in your company that can respond and actually do something.
  • Identify 24x7 contacts in your ISP that can respond and actually do something.
  • Ask your ISP to proactively monitor your traffic looking for Early Warning signs of such attacks.
  • Have the appropriate firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and network professionals in place
  • Perform a thorough audit of the security of your critical systems
  • By doing this you’re making sure there are no commonly exploited weaknesses in your system, and
  • You ensure your system isn’t being used as a compromised host to attack someone else. Think about the liabilities!
  

 

 

--------------------------------

Similar mobilization to the one organized for Seattle has been setup for the World Bank during the meeting of April 16 - 17 in Washington. The initiative was called Mobilization for Global Justice or A16

http://www.a16.org/

http://www.50years.org/

The slogan was de-fund the fund ! Break the bank ! Dump the debt.

Other link http://www.globalexchange.org/wbimf/links.html

OUR DEMANDS OF THE IMF AND WORLD BANK

March/April 2000

On the occasion of the first meetings of the governing bodies of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in the 21st century, we call for the immediate suspension of the policies and practices that have caused widespread poverty, inequality, and suffering among the world’s peoples and damage to the world’s environment. We assert the responsibility of these anti-democratic institutions, together with the World Trade Organization, for an unjust world economic system. We note that these institutions are controlled by wealthy governments, and that their policies have benefited international private sector financiers, transnational corporations, and corrupt officials.

We issue this call in the name of global justice, in solidarity with the peoples of the Global South and the former "Soviet bloc" countries who struggle for survival and dignity in the face of unjust, imperialistic economic policies. We stand in solidarity too with the millions in the wealthy countries of the Global North who have borne the burden of "globalization" policies and been subjected to policies that mirror those imposed on the South.

Only when the coercive powers of the international financial institutions are rescinded shall governments be accountable first and foremost to the will of their peoples. Only when a system that allocates power chiefly to the wealthiest nations for the purpose of dictating the policies of the poorer ones is reversed shall nations and their peoples be able to forge bonds - economic and otherwise - based on mutual respect and the common needs of the planet and its inhabitants. Only when integrity is restored to economic development, and both the corrupter and the corrupted held accountable, shall the people begin to have confidence in the decisions that affect their communities. Only when the well-being of all, including the most vulnerable people and ecosystems, is given priority over corporate profits shall we achieve genuine sustainable development and create a world of justice, equality, and peace where fundamental human rights, including social and economic rights, can be respected.

With these ends in mind, we make the following demands of those meeting in Washington April 16-19, 2000 for the semi-annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund:

1. That the IMF and World Bank cancel all debts owed them. Any funds required for this purpose should come from positive net capital and assets held by those institutions.

2. That the IMF and World Bank immediately cease imposing the economic austerity measures known as structural adjustment and/or other macroeconomic "reform," which have exacerbated poverty and inequality, as conditions of loans, credits, or debt relief. This requires both the suspension of those conditions in existing programs and an abandonment of any version of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative which is founded on the concept of debt relief for policy reform.

3. That the IMF and World Bank accept responsibility for the disastrous impact of structural adjustment policies by paying reparations to the peoples and communities who have borne that impact. These funds should come from the institutions’ positive net capital and assets, and should be distributed through democratically- determined mechanisms.

4. That the World Bank Group pay reparations to peoples relocated and otherwise harmed by its large projects (such as dams) and compensate governments for repayments made on projects which World Bank evaluations rank as economic failures. A further evaluation should determine which World Bank projects have failed on social, cultural, and environmental grounds, and appropriate compensation paid. The funds for these payments should come from the institutions’ positive net capital and assets, and should be distributed through democratically-determined mechanisms.

5. That the World Bank Group immediately cease providing advice and resources through its division devoted to private-sector investments to advance the goals associated with corporate globalization, such as privatization and liberalization, and that private-sector investments currently held be liquidated to provide funds for the reparations demanded above.

6. That the agencies and individuals within the World Bank Group and IMF complicit in abetting corruption, as well as their accomplices in borrowing countries, be prosecuted, and that those responsible, including the institutions involved, provide compensation for resources stolen and damage done.

7. That the future existence, structure, and policies of international institutions such as the World Bank Group and the IMF be determined through a democratic, participatory and transparent process. The process must accord full consideration of the interests of the peoples most affected by the policies and practices of the institutions, and include a significant role for all parts of civil society.

The accession to these demands would require the institutions’ directors to accept and act on the need for fundamental transformation. It is possible that the elimination of these institutions will be required for the realization of global economic and political justice. We commit to work towards the defunding of the IMF and World Bank by opposing further government allocations to them (in the form of either direct contributions or the designation of collateral) and supporting campaigns such as a boycott of World Bank bonds until these demands have been met.

 

 

 

The case of Worldbank

 

http://www.whirledbank.org/

original World Bank page

http://www.worldbank.org/

 

 

 

 

 

 

The case of the Austrian Freeedom Party (Joerg Heider)

Original FPO site:

http://www.fpoe.at/englisch/welcome.html

(english section)

 

 

Original statement (http://www.fpoe.at/aktuell/Statement.htm)

Freedom Party Central Office
Kärntnerstraße 28
1010 Vienna
Austria

February 2000

Statement by the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) regarding the falsification of our home page.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The FPÖ (Freedom Party of Austria) attaches the utmost importance to the following statement.

The current Internet site address www.fpo.at has absolutely no connection with our party. This is the work of Internet terrorists who try to deliberately spread false information concerning the programmatic content of the FPÖ, with the aim of damaging us politically. We disassociate ourselves categorically form the right radical sentiments propagated on this page. We are taking legal action regarding this matter.

The real Homepage of the FPÖ (Freedom Party of Austria) can be found under

www.fpoe.or.at

We appeal to all journalists in the media, interested in fair an objective reporting, to conduct research on the Net, concerning the FPÖ, on this our official site

www.fpoe.or.at

Only here can you find genuine serious information on our policies.

We kindly request you to pass this information on to your fellow colleagues in the media.

With best wishes form Vienna

On behalf of the FPÖ: Gerald Mikscha, Executive Manager Central Office

 

 

 

Fake FPO site

http://www.fpo.at/englisch/welcome.html

 

Fake statement: (http://www.fpo.at/englisch/fake.html)

Statement regarding the faking of our Homepage:

In September 1999 we were informed, that a fake of the FPÖ homepage exists in the Internet. We distance ourselves from the changed content. We are in no way connected to this cyberterrorists.

These pages were put onto the net to discredit us.

Our reaktions to the faking have been clear:

But now, as we have the Ministry of Interiour in our hands the problem will be fixed in no time!!!

 
Privacy policy