Georgian DDOS Traced to Populist Movement

The Russian government stands accused of being the source of the attacks flooding Georgian government Web sites with traffic, making them inaccessible to users. Is it true? University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Director of Research in Computer Forensics Gary Warner has been investigating the situation and has found some answers

August 20, 2008

• ‘Common Russia' stance prompts cyber battle

• Georgian government computers under attack

BIRMINGHAM, ALA - The Russian government stands accused of being the source of the attacks flooding Georgian government Web sites with traffic, making them inaccessible to users. Is it true? University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Director of Research in Computer Forensics Gary Warner has been investigating the situation and has found some answers

The widespread debate for the past week about the nature and origins of the so-called "Cyber War" has resulted in Web pages belonging to the government of Georgia being subjected to a "DDOS" (Distributed Denial of Service) attack, Warner said.

"The key point to understand is the conflict that arose when Georgia attempted to join NATO," Warner said. "At that time, Putin pledged to "subvert the territorial integrity of Georgia" if it continued in its efforts. The Kremlin has painted Georgia as part of ‘Common Russia,' and is encouraging its populace to support South Ossetia's independence as a way of preventing Georgia from leaving."

The result in this Internet age has been astonishing, Warner said.

"Yandex is a very popular Web site in Russia. There are Yandex Clubs, similar to Facebook groups, that give a voice to people with common interests. One such group called ‘We dismantle politics - War in Georgia!' has nearly a thousand members who are distributing DDOS attack scripts to their membership."

Warner has found at least 1,000 Web sites, mostly in Russia, that have posted the attack scripts that are spreading chain-letter style among Russians who want to help keep ‘Common Russia' intact.

More details are available in Warner's blog, "CyberCrime and Doing Time":

http://garwarner.blogspot.com/2008/08/evidence-that-georgia-ddos-attacks-are.html

NOTE: WE ARE THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM, not to be confused with the University of Alabama, which is a completely separate university. Please use our full name on first reference and UAB thereafter. Thank you - Deb Lucas