Wow! I was wondering why I couldn't access this site.

Ah Ha....me too. Facebook was still up tho!

Me too I thought my Comcast was down but it was fine .

I bought something on Ebay earlier and couldn't connect to PayPal to complete my purchase. Then noticed the outage on the CNN website, maybe I should go back and try again now.

Reuters

I'm in Ontario and could not access Gardenweb or some news sites. So, it was pretty far reaching

"The attack had knock-on effects for users..."... what does this mean?

I got NO work done this morning with Etsy down so now I have to spend some of my weekend making up for it. And of course there were no sales during that time.... And Friday is usually a good day. :(

I wondered what was happening this morning when the server was unavailable. Thanks for the update.

A knock on effect is something that's a consequence of something else. Dyn operates an internet function that routes connections to their intended destinations. The "attack" that was done was an intentionally massive number of connection attempts aimed at overloading the system to prevent it from making the needed connections.

The knock on effect, the consequence, is that many sites were unreachable because connections intended to be routed to them got delayed by a "post office" who couldn't sort the incoming mail fast enough to prevent it from piling up and going undelivered.

Yep, my server was down, but I had seen a note somewhere that mentioned the cyber attack, so I just waited. Came back on sometime early afternoon. No big loss, just hope it isn't going to happen over and over.

I was in a bit of a panic. My first thought is that Garden Web had disappeared again. When there were other sites affected as well, then I knew it was something not specific to GW.

Jas, I was worried about the same thing and felt slightly panicky. I tell you, I'd be beyond sad if Houzz ever gave up on GW. I'd happily pay for it. Mine didn't come back until tonight.

ME EITHER!!!!! I thought I was crazy. I reset my modem & routers. Reconfigured my DNS servers & nothing. Thank God it's not my equipment. I was in a panic.

Plus, I was able to get to all my normal sites, I only had a problem with thathomesite.com.

These cyber attacks are very scary. I didn't notice it , just read about it. How long were the sites down?

I had problems all afternoon. What confused me the most is I could access the kitchen table using my cellular data on my iPhone. But not my home wifi or computer. That's why I thought it was a DNS issue.

And nobody will help in tech support at the cable company because if your able to get online & access some websites, its definitely not their problem.

I read about the cyber attack but didn't realize Houzz was part of the companies named. It took a few attempts before it all sunk in. My question is how much FUN was this for the attackers? stupid.

Hackers don't hack for fun. They hack to send a message. Disrupt business, distribute embarrassing truths (DNC), etc.

There is no such thing as fire wall protection in the internet world. Get used to it. It's going to get worse.

DH works in IT said it caused them major problems at work. They use an online payroll system through which their employees clock in and out and that was disrupted along with some other things. We didn't get an announcement from IT at work so apparently it didn't disrupt anything anyone at my office needed. I was in the middle of a project and didn't get online.

Do you have 16 minutes?

The Benefit of Hackers

'Dyn said it has not heard from attackers and does not know who they are.

"What they're actually doing is moving around the world with each attack," Dyn Chief Strategy Officer Kyle York said in a conference call Friday afternoon.

The company's general counsel, Dave Allen, said during the call the company regularly prepares for scenarios like this.'

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2016/10/21/cyber-attack-takes-down-east-coast-netflix-spotify-twitter/92507806/

'The issue kept some users on the East Coast from accessing Twitter, Spotify, Netflix, Amazon, Tumblr, Reddit, PayPal and other sites.'

'Troubling to security experts was that the attackers relied on Mirai, an easy-to-use program that allows even unskilled hackers to take over online devices and use them to launch DDoS attacks. The software uses malware from phishing emails to first infect a computer or home network, then spreads to everything on it, taking over DVRs, cable set-top boxes, routers and even Internet-connected cameras used by stores and businesses for surveillance.

These devices are in turn used to create a robot network, or botnet, to send the millions of messages that knocks the out victims' computer systems.

The source code for Mirai was released on the so-called dark web, sites that operate as a sort of online underground for hackers, at the beginning of the month. The release led some security experts to suggest it would soon be widely used by hackers. That appears to have happened in this case.

Dyn is getting “tens of millions” of messages from around the globe sent by seemingly harmless but Internet-connected devices.

“It could be your DVR, it could be a CCTV camera, a thermostat. I even saw an Internet-connected toaster on Kickstarter yesterday," said York.

The complexity and breadth of the multiple attack points makes it difficult to fight, because it's hard to distinguish legitimate traffic from botnet traffic.'

I'm joining you in the idea that something was wrong with my mac or the service. My daughter is here in Maine at the lakehouse and she is an exec. in Apple. She couldn't figure it out either lol. Can't wait for her to wake so I can tell her. It's been teeming here for 12 hours now and it's so foggy out I can't see the water or the mountains, I feel like I'm locked inside a smoke machine.

This is a perfect example of why would a hacker or bad guy care about getting into my computer I don't have anything they want let them go ahead I don't care! I have tried over and over to explain to these people the hackers don't care about you and your information! They get in your computer to be able to take it over to use for their nefarious needs and wants. Just like this. It's hundreds of people's computers all linked together in a botnet that these people can use to make big things happen and you don't have any idea your computer is being used to do this. But if the government pulls out the ip addresses of some of the computers guess who they go visit. You! Because your computer was linked to this kind of event. In some cases they use your computer for spreading spam or child pornography. This is how completely innocent people have been arrested for being part of a porn network and had no idea it was happening through their computer. So please stop thinking no body wants what is on My computer! They want the computer!

I was affected only when trying to get on garden web.

Mid morning yesterday getting on Houzz and Costco was spotty for me. I looked at some local community forums for any mention but nothing, so I thought it was just me.

'This is a perfect example of why would a hacker or bad guy care about getting into my computer I don't have anything they want let them go ahead '

There are still plenty of criminals around who want your personal information. Keylogger programs will grab your credit card data or personal identity to sell on the black market. There is something called the Dark Web that is described as having a marketplace similar to Amazon. They use bitcoins, a new non-traceable currency, for their purchases.

Supposedly there is a trend away from the little guy on his personal computer. Instead they go for juggler, company databases. But I doubt they will ever stop mining data from home computers.

I heard something on the news this morning that a hacker tapped into Russia's computers to warn them to keep away from America's election.

Your "going for the jugular" comment describes the obvious, there's more to find in commercial and other institutional systems than those of individual users.

I think a lot of people like to sensationalize the small number of incursions when overall, the internet is a huge communication system used daily by hundreds of millions of mostly technically unsophisticated and naive users with little risk. With good security software, common sense and thoughtful practices (as when walking in a downtown district, stay away from dark alleys and sketchy neighborhoods), there's little real likelihood of encountering a problem. Incidents will continue to come and go, most usually with little consequence. The denial of service attack caused no more damage, risk or disruption than if there had been a power failure. (yes, I know, essential server locations have back up generators, I'm using the hypothetical as an illustration). There weren't mounted gangs of desperadoes riding through town and shooting everyone they saw.

I was only affected by access to Houzz and maybe one other site I tried to access (can't remember now what it was). Then I read about the cyber attack. It's pretty scary IMO so I stayed off my personal computer for most of the rest of the day and evening and even early Saturday. I didn't want to open the door to more trouble iykwim.