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Gambling Sites Battle DDoS Attacks
the-dark-kangaroo writes "Gambling sites are fighting back against extortion from hackers using Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. According to the report released by the BBC many of these attacks are coming from infected home PCs which have succumbed to a worm or virus. The gambling sites are bringing in reinforcements: Pipex, Cisco and security firm Energis are creating 'intelligent' traffic monitoring systems to help stop these attacks."
Yah, and I'd feel sorry for them if they'd play nice and stop writing worms to crawl blogs and paste poker spam in the comments. You wouldn't believe the amount of spam I had to clear from my blog comment area already. Imagine my surprise when I saw the same poker spam in the comments of every single post in my blog on some computer graphics project I'm working on... Feel sorry for them? Not really.
Install windows on my workstation? You crazy? Got any idea how much I paid for the damn thing?
Cisco is just working on solutions against DDOS attacks; it's not Cisco's responsibility if that technology is used to protect the Pentagon or some online gambling site. Following your logic, Cisco is already in trouble because those online gambling companies already use Cisco hardware in their setup... And so is Dell, 'coz they made the PCs used by the casino staff, and so is the company who made the bricks for the building their HQ is located in etc...
See how ridiculous it gets if you stop to think about it? ;)
Install windows on my workstation? You crazy? Got any idea how much I paid for the damn thing?
Okay, I understand that we're talking about gambling websites. But these same methods can be used to take down just about any website. Society makes the final call on what is legal and illegal. Some might say the hackers are using their ethics to take down a vice. But if that was the hackers goal, why ask for money? Second, the tax revenue gambling generates often goes to schools. By taking them down, it would seem harm is being done in unexpected places. Politicans are responsible for planning funding, and if a bubble bursts, the community is in trouble.
Second, do we want one, or a small group of people, telling society what they can and can't do? What if a group of Jehova's Witnesses hackers decided to remove ALL porn off the web. People would freak out. One man's utopia is another mans hell.
Rosco: "If brains were gunpowder, Enos couldn't blow his nose."
Why is gambling a shady biz? I don't gamble myself, but as long as they don't come to my house and force me to gamble, I don't see the shady part.
Tax on those poor at math? Perhaps. But, why shady?
"Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are the dead." A. Huxley
Why are a bunch of script kiddies being called hackers again?
Sorry but you're displaying your ignorance. Gambling is legal in most societies, and in some (eg, Hong Kong) it's a common activity that the majority of the population enjoy.
Betting on the result of a sporting event, or anything else, via a legally authorised bookmaker is no more shady than having a cup of coffee.
Just because you have this image of gambling that seems to be more to do with smoke-filled secret back rooms where you have to know the password and the guy behind the bar to get in than legitimate, publicly-traded and -scrutinied businesses that doesn't make it a reality.
The gambling sites being DDOSed aren't run by crooks, they're the legitimate and legal online presences of bricks-and-mortar bookmakers as well as internet gambling start-ups.
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
Casinos seem morally irresponsible to me, letting people run up debt to the point where they put a burdon on society in order to make a profit. I'm sure this is an argument for another place at another time, but that's how I feel.
I'm sorry, but in the US couldn't you apply that label to hospitals too? Medical bills that run into 5 or 6 figures aren't uncommon and it's a sad fact that the biggest factor in personal bankrupcy in the US is unpaid (and, more importantly, unpayable) medical bills.
And, out of interest, where do you draw the line at what is and what isn't gambling? Is playing the lottery gambling? And in a so-called "free" society, shouldn't you be able to do what you want with your hard-earned cash? Does anyone really have the right to tell you how you can and can't use it to entertain (and possibly enrich) yourself if you're not hurting anyone else in the process?
To be honest, I'm not in favour of unchecked gambling, but then I'm not in favour of unchecked alcohol abuse either, but you don't see church and state bringing the roof down on that ballgame, do you?
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
Sorry but you're displaying your arrogance. Just because something is legal doesn't mean it is ethical. I could give you plenty of examples, but I'll leave it up to people's imagination.
What sort of a dim-witted comparison is that? Gambling devastates many people's lives. That makes people who push their gambling 'services' onto us 'shady'. Having a cup of coffee has nothing to do with it.
You don't need smoke-filled, secret rooms or passwords to have a shady business. You just need to have a deficient conscience, or excess greed, and an online gambling site. Then you sit back and wait for the poor suckers to 'click', 'click', 'click', 'click', 'click', 'click', 'click'. People don't rock up to a gambling establishment and try their luck once. They stay their until they're out of money. You can disagree with me if you like, but every time I go to a casino ( get dragged their by workmates once a year or so ), the above is what I witness.
I don't think so. People running gambling sites are far more likely to be dodgy than those in a physical establishment. It's far easier to police a 'real' gambling business than a virtual one, especially since a virtual one can hide it's location and reside in a place that has no regulation.
Also, I get a fucking shitload of SPAM from gambling sites. Right away that says to me that the people running the sites are far from innocent, law-abiding citizens.
You seem to try to make the point throughout your post that because something is legal, that somehow blesses the activity. I suppose the opposite of this is that everything which is illegal is patently evil. Both points are absolutely ridiculous. There are plenty of things which are legal which are evil:
- selling carcinogen-soaked cigarettes
- selling alcohol
- selling weapons
- having a monopoly ( esp. a media monopoly )
Likewise, there are plenty of things which are illegal which are quite harmless
- recreational drugs
- not voting if there's no-one worth voting for ( Australia )
- being a member of the Iraqi resistance
I'm pretty sure that I'd get disagreement on all of the above points. This reinforces my argument that:
- you should never use the law to enforce ethical behaviour in private matters
- you should never use an activity's legal status as an indicator of it's ethical status
Back to the topic of the actual article