‘Biggest attack ever’ slows Internet
Fifty-nine percent of American adults have looked online for health information in the last year, according to a report released by the Pew Internet & American Life Project
Security experts say the Internet is experiencing a massive slowdown resulting from the biggest cyber-attack of its kind in history, according to the BBC.
The service interruption is the result of a online dispute between a spam-fighting group, called Spamhaus, and Cyberbunker, a Dutch company that hosts Web sites that send spam, the New York Times reported.
The cyber dispute resulted in widespread congestion on the web, leaving millions of users unable to access certain sites like Netflix and other delays, the Times said.
The problem occurred when Spamhaus temporarily added Cyberbunker to an email blacklist, which angered the Dutch company. It then retaliated with an attack that slowed a number of sites.
Cyberbunker, which gets its name because it operates out of a five-story, former NATO bunker, offers to host any website "except child porn and anything related to terrorism."
Sven Olaf Kamphuis, who claims to be a spokesman for Cyberbunker, told the BBC Spamhaus should not be allowed to decide "what goes and does not go on the internet."
According to the BBC, Spamhaus alleged "Cyberbunker, in cooperation with 'criminal gangs' from Eastern Europe and Russia, is behind the attack."
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