So anti-spam group and a hardened hosting company are going at it. The security firm that runs interference for the anti-spammers is engaged in a bit of self-promotion and all the usual suspects are breathlessly reporting on it.
I picked up on this in Ars a few days ago, and groaned inwardly when I heard it on NPR this afternoon. While this is an example of the kind of conflict that can occur on the Internet, it isn't the world-shaking, Netflix-stuttering event that it has been made out to be. It is common knowledge that large criminal organizations employ botnets for the purpose of creating and sending spam, and their cost for doing it is so incredibly low they can deploy thousands and thousands of computers to execute DDoS attacks. What's interesting is that this is being reported on at all. The comings and goings of The Internet as a purely Net phenomenon is still fairly new for mainsteam publications. That's why they focus on things people can identify, like slow downloads and Netflix cutting out - neither of which seem to have actually happened. The Net as place, where things happen, has yet to enter the mainstream.
This is not the first time a botnet has been deployed in an offensive fashion. It may be the first time you've heard about it.
It will not be the last.
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