Wikileaks withstands multifaceted attacks

The Wikileaks saga can now be classified as an all-out cyber war. Two clear factions have clearly emerged.

Already we have seen numerous actions taken against Wikileaks. These include: VISA, Mastercard and PayPal not taking donations in aide of the cause, PostFinance (a Swiss bank) freezing their account, removal and banning from various servers, extended DDoS attacks on the Wikileaks website and of course the arrest of Julian Assange.

However fighting in the Wikileaks corner is Anonymous (among others), a group of hackers almost like something out of the Matrix or Hackers movies, who have used their Low Orbit Ion Cannon package to attack and take down opposition forces. Already a few of the above named organisations have fallen to their attacks. Social media websites also seem to have been caught in the cross fire.

No matter which side you find yourself on, the mere fact that Wikileaks is still up and running on the web is a true example of the ability of the web.

Not even 3 days before the Wikileaks saga hit the headlines was I drawn into a discussion on whether the web can be controlled or shutdown. This is quite possibly a questioned fielded by many technology professionals when dealing with those not as knowledgeable about how the web works.

Renesys.com has a full breakdown of the Wikileaks progression.

Some of the tricks and methods used by Wikileaks include registering multiple top level domains of various country codes pointing to servers hosted in various countries (a real barebones of the cloud structure). Independent supporters of the cause also are hosting thousands of mirror sites. The social media platforms have been used to drum up support and keep everyone up-to-date.

With the demise of Wikileaks seemingly nowhere in sight despite the barrage of attacks it has had to withstand. I believe this is a clear example to every one of the true power of the internet and the difficulty and possible inability to control it.

For more ICT news check out infoworld.com.