“Cyber Attacks Threaten Online Gambling Companies”
In what can only be seen as a form
of internet blackmail, computer hackers have recently made
it known to e-commerce web sites that if they don’t “pay up,” their
sites will be attacked. An industry forum comprised of the
UK’s largest internet gambling organizations is looking
for ways to combat this very serious problem.
Distributed denial-of-service
(DdoS) attacks – internet
attacks that can virtually paralyze online gambling companies – send
between one and two gigabytes of data per second. They can
clog a site’s bandwidth and bring it to a complete
halt. And by slowing the Internet Service Provider’s
(ISPs) network, they can essentially ruin online gambling
companies. The chief technology officer of one such company,
Blue Square, can speak about these attacks from experience.
Peter Pedersen wants to convince ISPs to distribute protective
firewalls to their customers, and now that Blue Square has
actually been subjected to one of these distributed denial-of-service
attacks, his interest in the matter is no longer just theoretical.
An interview by “ZDNet UK” makes it clear that
Pederson isn’t the only chief technology officer of
an online gambling company who feels this way either. David
Yu of Betfair has voiced the same concerns, and it appears
that at least some ISPs are responsive to the situation.
Of course online gambling companies are hardly the only businesses
at risk for cyber attacks, and the online gambling forum is
making its best efforts to convince MPs that the problem posed
by these hackers is a problem all British businesses will face.
The European VP of security strategy for Computer Associates,
Simon Perry, was pleased to hear that some attention is being
given to the matter, though he was less impressed by the amount
of attention. Apparently, the UK Parliament has decided to
devote a total of ten minutes to the issue on Tuesday; included
in those ten minutes will be a discussion as to whether the
1990 Computer Misuse Act should be updated, and a proposal
by MP Derek Wyatt to make Ddos attacks illegal. Somewhat more
discouraging for those who feel this issue is critical and
that time is of the essence is the fact that the next general
election is mere weeks away. The idea that the proposed changes
to the law will pass seems fanciful, at best.
Back to Online Gambling News April 2005 Edition
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