Attackers Target Turkish Online News Portals

Recently, several Turkish news websites suffered cyber-attack.

Albuquerque, NM (prHWY.com) May 25, 2011 - Recently, several Turkish online news portals suffered cyber-attack. The website of Birgun, a left-wing daily newspaper operated from Istanbul was the first news portal to suffer cyber-attack. Around 200 IP addresses were involved in the attack on Birgun. Attackers also targeted websites of Bianet and Sol Haber. The online news portal of Yüksekova, operated from South-East Turkey is the latest target of cyber-attack. The site is under attack from around 1,000 IP addresses. Information security professionals are investigating the attack and the site is temporarily inaccessible to the end-users. All the websites were targets of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, which resulted in disruption of normal services. While some of the IP addresses involved in attacks on Bianet and Sol Haber are reported to be common, the IT Company, which provides services to the two portals identified different characteristics, indicating more than one source of attack. The attacks followed recent protests in Turkey for 'free Internet'. The attacks on online news portals are significant in the context of recent revolutions in Egypt and Libya, which involved use of Internet. While protesters were successful in overthrowing the government in Egypt, Libya is in a state of civil war. Similar protests are taking place in Yemen. Internet provides an effective medium to communicate ideas. Recent events have raised alarm bells among ruling authorities in the Middle-East countries on the probable use of Internet by forces opposing the governments. Rival intelligence agencies, forces loyal to government, and protesters may carry out cyber-attacks.

DDoS attacks involve use of large number of compromised computers against a target resource such as website or network. The heavy traffic generated by simultaneous requests, makes it difficult for the target resource to deliver normal services to the users. DDoS attacks on websites lead to disruption of services and may even cause the website to shut down. Visitors either experience slow access or are unable to access the targeted website. Regular DDoS attacks may lead to operation challenges, loss of business hours, financial loss and customer discontent.

Use of router filters, disabling idle network services, regular patch management and identification of threat vectors may help organizations in preventing malicious attacks. Hiring professionals qualified in masters of security science may help organizations in timely identification and mitigation of threat vectors, and implementing appropriate security mechanisms. IT security professionals must keep track of the network traffic, identify unusual traffic and block suspicious IP addresses. They may coordinate with Internet security firms and Internet service providers to identify likely threats and initiate remediating measures. Employee awareness is crucial to defend organizational resources from vibrant cyber threats. Mandatory e-learning and online degree programs may help employees in understanding security threats and foster security conscious culture in organization.

Online university degree programs may enable IT security professionals to update themselves on the latest developments in IT security, new technologies and latest threats, and facilitate implementation new security mechanisms. Proactive approach is crucial to defend the IT apparatus from frequent and sophisticated threats emanating from the cyber space.

Contact Press

EC-Council
Website: http://www.eccuni.us
Email: iclass@eccouncil.org
Tel: 505-341-3228

EC-Council University is based in Albuquerque, New Mexico and offers Master of Security Science (MSS) degree to students from various backgrounds such as graduates, IT Professionals, and military students amongst several others. The MSS is offered as a 100% online degree program and allows EC-Council University to reach students from not only the United States, but from all around the world.

EC-Council is a member-based organization that certifies individuals in cybersecurity and e-commerce skills. It is the owner and developer of 16 security certifications, including Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), Computer Hacking Forensics Investigator (CHFI) and EC-Council Certified Security Analyst (ECSA)/License Penetration Tester (LPT). Its certificate programs are offered in over 60 countries around the world.

EC-Council has trained over 80,000 individuals and certified more than 30,000 members, through more than 450 training partners globally. These certifications are recognized worldwide and have received endorsements from various government agencies including the U.S. federal government via the Montgomery GI Bill, Department of Defense via DoD 8570.01-M, National Security Agency (NSA) and the Committee on National Security Systems (CNSS). EC-Council also operates the global series of Hacker Halted security conferences.

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Tag Words: turkish, cyber attack, ddos, internet traffic, website security, birgun, bianet, sol haber, news portals, online university degree, online degree

Categories: Security

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