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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?