A host of websites, including Twitter and Spotify, have been targeted in a series of cyber attacks.
A number of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack – when a website is flooded with traffic until it can no longer support it and is forced offline – have targeted domain name system provider Dyn, which in turn has disrupted service to many of its customers, which also included SoundCloud, Airbnb and Reddit.
Dyn said it was currently fighting a third attack, which is “well planned and executed, coming from tens of millions IP addresses at same time.”
In a statement on their website they added: “We have begun monitoring and mitigating a DDoS attack against our Dyn Managed (Domain Name System) infrastructure. Our Engineers are continuing to work on mitigating this issue,”
The attack was first reported on website Hacker News, which named social media giant Twitter and music service Spotify among a list of “sites down”, with most of those affected based in the US.
Our advanced service monitoring issue is currently resolved. We are still investigating and mitigating the attacks on our infrastructure.
— Dyn (@Dyn) October 21, 2016
However, some in the UK also reported issues accessing their Twitter and Spotify accounts.
Security experts labelled the attack a “nuisance” but warned the style of attack can sometimes be used as a diversion from other activity.
Mark James, from cyber security firm ESET, said: “DDoS seems to be more widely used these days to cause disruption and nuisance.
“DDoS, of course, may not only be used to make a statement or bring voice to your protests, it may and has on many occasions been used as a smokescreen to cover other nefarious purposes, which may include data theft or malware infection.
“We all need our daily fix of the digital programs that are so intertwined into our daily lives and when those services are down we tend to get a little edgy.”
No-one has claimed responsibility for the attack.
