Are DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attacks against the law?

It’s not pleasant to be on the receiving end of a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack.

Malicious hackers can commandeer thousands of computers around the world, and order them to deluge a website with traffic – effectively clogging it up, preventing others from reaching the site, and bringing the website to its knees.

As I’ve described before, DDoS attacks are the equivalent of “15 fat men trying to get through a revolving door at the same time” – nothing can move.

In recent days a number of websites have been struck by DDoS attacks, seemingly co-ordinated by supporters of WikiLeaks against firms and websites who they feel have turned their back on the controversial whistle-blowing website.

Most recently, internet users have been urged to voluntarily join a botnet, by downloading a…

Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.

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Graham Cluley •   @gcluley

Graham Cluley is a veteran of the anti-virus industry having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent security analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of computer security, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter at @gcluley, on Mastodon at @[email protected], or drop him an email.