Who Would Jeebus Hack? Cyber Attack On No On 8 Fundraising Site Continues

Last night's cyber-attack on No On 8's site is continuing.

The denial-of-service (DoS) attack on NoOnProp8.com that started last night continues. When you attempt to go to the URL, it either will time out or, perhaps, eventually load after a long delay.

How does this happen?

In one common DoS scenario, it would be this:

Botnets of infected Windows computers under the control of cyber criminals have been instructed to hit NoOnProp8.com with more requests for its main page than the servers can handle.

Why does this matter?

The Web page is how the folks fighting Prop 8 are raising the money they need to put ads on TV to try to win on Nov. 4.

The Christianists have shrewdly waited until the precise moment when funds are most desperately needed. Who would Jeebus hack?

UPDATE: This just in from No On 8:

The NO on Prop 8 Web site was hit by a massive cyber invasion called a distributed denial of service attack (DoS) that took down the site for several hours last night, with the assault originating not just in-state, but from Texas, New Jersey and Georgia.

The NO on Prop 8 campaign's Web site attack started late yesterday afternoon when the Web team was alerted by higher-than-normal traffic. The traffic escalated over the next several hours, slowing the system and by 10 pm, a small team of engineers concluded that that NO on 8 website was under a full cyber attack.

"I'm sure we'll hear a lot of denials today from the Prop 8 campaign, but this is clearly an orchestrated attempt to tear down what has become one of the largest grassroots movements in California electoral history," said Patrick Guerriero, NO on Prop 8 Campaign Director. "We have reported this to the FBI and other federal authorities and we have secured our site in ways we never thought would be necessary. But make no mistake - this was an attack against individual rights, not just a Web site."

From what the NO on Prop 8 campaign knows, the DoS attack started yesterday from a small number of individuals. It is believed the attacks, which occurred throughout the night, came from California, Texas, New Jersey and Georgia. The attacks to the site increased from a small number of hosts to dozens. As IP addresses of attackers were blacklisted, new IP addresses emerged and attacked. The NO on Prop 8 campaign has reported the DoS to the FBI and the Secret Service, which has jurisdiction over such attacks to prevent breaks in the national financial networks.