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Finnish Bank OP Under Persistent DDoS Attack

An anonymous reader writes The Finnish bank OP Pohjola Group has been a target of a dedicated DDoS attack for days. The attack, which investigators said was launched from both Finland and abroad, began on New Year's Eve. OP was forced to open a helpline for customers unable to confirm payments or transfer money because of jammed systems. On Saturday the firm said it would compensate people for any losses or late payment fees incurred as a result of attack. On Sunday morning the bank tweeted that its services were operating normally and even customers based outside Finland were able to access their accounts — and that it was still monitoring traffic carefully to try and ward off any renewed strikes. However, on Sunday afternoon further denial of service attacks took place delaying payments and preventing access to banking services for OP customers. A formal police complaint has been filed and OP says that KRP is looking into the case.

6 of 92 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Sonebody go tell them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Sure... Linux will solve all DDoS problems with fairy dust and other magic.

    I'm by no means a fan of Windows, but install any odd Linux distribution of a few months old on a public IP address, with most standard features enabled and let's see how long it lasts without getting exploited.

    Also, Linux solves nothing if you're on the receiving end of a very large DDoS. The only thing that will help you then is sufficient bandwidth, sufficient server capacity and dedicated, specialized filtering equipment. Then again, it's still hard to fight many of those "semi-intelligent" DDoSes and even the best hardware and massive pipes will get you only so far.

    It's time to see those DDoSes for what they really are: Lame acts of vandalism or extortion. There's nothing clever about them and they're causing an increasing amount of financial damages, often also a lot of collateral damage. Maybe it helps if those who initiate them get caught more often and don't get away with a few weeks of house arrest and public service.

  2. And therefore it is no surprise that ... by cold+fjord · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Finland, like other countries that have had security incidents, seeks to protect itself ....

    Supo wants expanded net surveillance powers - 20.6.2013

    The head of the Finnish Security Intelligence Service (Supo) has told the business daily Talouselämä that his organization wants increased funding and expanded powers to carry out surveillance of internet traffic.

    Five years ago, the Swedish Defence Radio Authority (FRA) was authorized to warrantlessly wiretap all telephone and internet traffic that crosses Sweden's borders. According to Supo chief Antti Pelttari, Finland should consider introducing the Swedish model here as well.

    "Our legal mandate is to ensure the security of the State of Finland and its social system from both internal and external threats," said Pelttari. "There must be means available to monitor what is transmitted through data networks, and the capacity to identify and evaluate anomalies," he added.

    I wonder who is attacking the Finns, and who would have reason to? Russia has been menacing Finland and its neighbors in the Baltics with incursions by aircraft and submarines. There is concern that Russia may turn on Finland after Ukraine. The Baltic states and other targets of Russia have suffered similar attacks coming from Russia.

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    much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
  3. Re:So get protection by TapeCutter · · Score: 4, Interesting

    In the end it comes down to the cost-benefit ratio

    The DDOS attack is likely to have a ransom attached to it, so it boils down to two options; spend money on honest and reliable uptime protection, or submit to the attackers dishonest and fickle protection racket. I'm pretty sure the first option would be cheaper in the long run, sure it's a relatively expensive line item on an IT budget but not enough to seriously damage the total budget of a small bank.

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    And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
  4. I'll just leave this here by bytesex · · Score: 4, Interesting
    --
    Religion is what happens when nature strikes and groupthink goes wrong.
  5. Re:OP customer here: this must be pure vandalism by circletimessquare · · Score: 4, Interesting

    russians

    it doesn't take much to mount a DDoS, and one or a handful of ultranationalist douchebags felt slighted by something innocuous someone in finland did or said recently

    they had to prove something about glorious russia, so down went a finnish bank

    it makes sense in some propagandized loser's head

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  6. Re:Getting out of hand by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I kind of think terrorism is not the correct tag here. Other crimes can have the same punishments etc as terrorism, so no need to put everything under terrorism. I already hate it when all kinds of stupid laws and punishments are given under the terrorism flag, even though they have nothing to do with terrorism.