Blog Bloke Gets Hammered with DOS Attacks!
The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming! Unless you live in a vacuum you must have heard of the recent DOS attacks from (apparently) Russian hackers against social media sites. If you are a subscriber to this blog you might have also noticed that we were offline for the better part of two days.
Well I’m happy to report that we were down but not out, as this blog was also under attack!
You might be familiar with the movie farce called “The Russians are Coming!” (see pic above) starring Alan Arkin and Carl Reiner about a Russian submarine that foundered on U.S. soil during the cold war.
While all this was happening I couldn’t help but ponder it would be a smart strategy to take out our computers with a DOS attack before mounting an all-out boots-on-the-ground campaign … but there I go being paranoid again.
Fortunately that hasn’t happened (knock on wood) but I can’t help but reflect on why this blog was singled out. The attacks were aimed primarily at the large social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, but blogs like mine and Gawker Media were also taken out.
Why Blog Bloke? I never thought I was really that important in the grand scheme of things but apparently someone out there thinks so.
I don’t know whether to be offended or flattered! At least I’m in good company.
What do you think? Have you been affected by the DOS attacks? Why not share your thoughts with the rest of us.
P.s.: Kudos to my blog host team for toughing it out. The fact that I’m online is a testament to their tenacity and skills. Thanks fellas!
Filed under: Blog News, Featured Articles, Security, Site News, Social Media
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I couldn’t access my blog or any other blog on Blogger Friday because of the DDOS attacks. I kept getting an error from Google telling me that my computer was sending automated queries. My first instinct was to freak out because I was scared I did something wrong or that I had some kind of virus that Avast didn’t pick up. Then I finally thought to check Twitter to see if anyone else was having the same problem. They were thankfully. I was finally able to get back on it Friday night.
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@Staci, thanks for the update. Yes, Blogger was also attacked and any blogs hosted by them would have been affected.
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Blog Bloke (@blogbloketips) reply on August 14th, 2009 3:15 am:
It’s a real bummer when stuff like these happens.
Blogger is very much susceptible to these attacks lately.
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@IMBuzz, thanks for the sentiments. Misery loves company
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Blog Bloke (@blogbloketips) reply on August 18th, 2009 10:53 am:
Frightening stuff.
Blogbloke, am delighted to have found your amazingly informative and punchily-written site. I’ll be joining up as soon as I’ve got the tech side sorted on my new blog… (at this rate, probably around Christmas!). Best to you and yours from France.
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@Minnie, and I’m delighted to hear from a new reader. Thanks so much for the comment and I hope to read more of them (hopefully before Christmas).
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Blog Bloke (@blogbloketips) reply on August 18th, 2009 10:58 am:
Yes!!! Blog now up and running - albeit on Wordpress, which I chose before reading your comments about Blogger being preferable: terrific timing, eh? Still, I’ve had some nasty commenters so Wordpress’s filtering function was the deciding factor. You’re on the blogroll chez moi, and I look forward to learning more via your site.
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Is incredible how can happen this now, but is true for me was the same and I was out like 3 days but now I can understand why !
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Congratulations! you survive and that’s the most important
Kudos to the blog team, again, the Russians are defeated !
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Since I’ve not been blogging much, I hadn’t noticed the Russians came and went!
And yet you’re STILL here…beat those Russkis so bad they ran home to mama! It’ll take a lot to keep you down, my friend.
Mahalo for dropping by my blog and leaving your bon mots. It’s so nice to see yer face.
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@Kuanyin, I just got your message sweety and thanks from Toronto. Now off to Niagara Falls.
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Blog Bloke (@blogbloketips) reply on September 1st, 2009 6:06 am:
Maybe you were just lucky enough to be considered attack worthy. A back asswards compliment.
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@Santa Monica Laptop Repair, thanks, and back at ya ;-0
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Blog Bloke (@blogbloketips) reply on September 1st, 2009 6:04 am:
6:04 AM?!?! Why aren’t you asleep Mr Bloke?
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@AutoBlog, because I’m on autoblog mode
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Blog Bloke (@blogbloketips) reply on September 11th, 2009 5:26 pm:
DDOS is just so pointless. What do the “russians” gain? I could see if they were making money. Is there any details on how they did it? Was it the use of a botnet? What was their motive?
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@Pet, the motive in attacks like this is to make our live miserable. A DOS attack involves sending constant streams of garbage data at a server to overwhelm it and take it offline.
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Blog Bloke (@blogbloketips) reply on September 11th, 2009 6:28 pm:
I don’t get why people are doing that, why wasting time and resources just to do damage to others? I am really scared that it might happen one day to me, I am with a good host, but still… SY
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@hospitalera, when your blog gets popular it will happen sooner or later. It unfortunately goes with the territory.
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Blog Bloke (@blogbloketips) reply on September 11th, 2009 6:30 pm:
Wow does that suck ; (
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