“DDOS” attacks bring Echoroukonline to standstill

The website “Echoroukonline” was yesterday the target of a “DDOS” attack (or distributed denial-of-service) by unknown hackers causing major disruptions on the newspaper's site for several hours. 

• The swift intervention of Echorouk’s specialized technical staff was necessary to put things in order and to relaunch the website after sustained efforts.
• On the Internet, a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack is one in which a multitude of compromised systems attack a single target, thereby causing denial of service for users of the targeted system. The flood of incoming messages to the target system essentially forces it to shut down, thereby denying service to the system to legitimate users.
• A hacker (or, if you prefer, cracker) begins a DDoS attack by exploiting a vulnerability in one computer system and making it the DDoS “master.” It is from the master system that the intruder identifies and communicates with other systems that can be compromised. The intruder loads cracking tools available on the Internet on multiple — sometimes thousands of — compromised systems.
•  With a single command, the intruder instructs the controlled machines to launch one of many flood attacks against a specified target. The inundation of packets to the target causes a denial of service.
• According to specialists, this scathing “DDOS” attack against Echoroukonline is clear evidence that Echoroukonline disturbs certain occult and ill-advised circles on account of its ever-increasing success and attractiveness in the eyes of numerous Internet users in Algeria, in the Arab world and on the International scene as well.
• To this effect, the abnegation and professional rigour of Echoroukonline’s editorial team over the past few years has allowed this website to be classified as among the 1500 most attractive and most reliable ones at the international level by the renowned Alexa.com network during a recent classification study.
• Furthermore, “Echoroukonline” in the Arab, French and English versions is always forging ahead by leaps and bounds as it receives over 500.000 visitors daily, according to latest statistics.