SECURITYWEEK NETWORK:

ICS:

Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

SecurityWeekSecurityWeek

Network Security

Downloads of LOIC DoS Attack Tool Spike as Anonymous Inspires Online Protests

As Anonymous initiated what it said will be the “largest attack ever on government and music industry sites” in response to actions taken by the Justice Department against operators of file sharing site Megaupload.com, downloads of a popular DoS attack tool have spiked

As Anonymous initiated what it said will be the “largest attack ever on government and music industry sites” in response to actions taken by the Justice Department against operators of file sharing site Megaupload.com, downloads of a popular DoS attack tool have spiked.

Anonymous DDoS AttacksWhile the Denial of Service tool known as the “Low Orbit Ion Cannon” (LOIC) was developed by the “good guys” to stress test websites, it has been a favorite tool of Anonymous to take its targets offline by sending a flood of TCP/UDP packets in an attempt to overwhelm a system and make it inaccessible.

Interactions seen on Twitter and IRC, made it clear that the action against MegaUpload has sparked many more individuals to get involved in the online protests and download the LOIC to take part in the attacks.

The chart below shows the number of LOIC downloads from Sourceforge so far for the monthly of January 2012. These figures do not include downloads from other sites and sharing, which increases the number even more.

More background on the takedown of Megaupload.Com and the attacks can be found in our previous coverage here.

Low Orbit Ion Cannon

Written By

For more than 10 years, Mike Lennon has been closely monitoring the threat landscape and analyzing trends in the National Security and enterprise cybersecurity space. In his role at SecurityWeek, he oversees the editorial direction of the publication and is the Director of several leading security industry conferences around the world.

More from

Latest News

Click to comment

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest threats, trends, and technology, along with insightful columns from industry experts.

Virtual Event: Threat Detection and Incident Response Summit
Wednesday, May 24, 2023

SecurityWeek’s Threat Detection and Incident Response Summit brings together security practitioners from around the world to share war stories on breaches, APT attacks and threat intelligence.

Register

Virtual Event: CISO Forum Virtual Summit
June 13-14, 2023

Securityweek’s CISO Forum will address issues and challenges that are top of mind for today’s security leaders and what the future looks like as chief defenders of the enterprise.

Register

Expert Insights

Related Content

Zero Trust and Identity and Access Management Zero Trust and Identity and Access Management

Identity & Access

Cyber Insights 2023 | Zero Trust and Identity and Access Management

Zero trust is not a replacement for identity and access management (IAM), but is the extension of IAM principles from people to everyone and...

February 6, 2023
Network Security Company Corsa Security Raises $10 Million

Cybersecurity Funding

Network Security Company Corsa Security Raises $10 Million

Network security provider Corsa Security last week announced that it has raised $10 million from Roadmap Capital. To date, the company has raised $50...

October 24, 2022
Cybercrime Insights | 2023 Cybercrime Insights | 2023

Network Security

Cyber Insights 2023 | Attack Surface Management

Attack surface management is nothing short of a complete methodology for providing effective cybersecurity. It doesn’t seek to protect everything, but concentrates on areas...

January 31, 2023
Zero Trust Model Zero Trust Model

Identity & Access

Password Dependency: How to Break the Cycle

Hackers rarely hack in anymore. They log in using stolen, weak, default, or otherwise compromised credentials. That’s why it’s so critical to break the...

January 25, 2023
NSA Publishes Security Guidance for Organizations Transitioning to IPv6

Network Security

NSA Publishes Security Guidance for Organizations Transitioning to IPv6

NSA publishes guidance to help system administrators identify and mitigate cyber risks associated with transitioning to IPv6.

January 23, 2023
Cyberattacks Target Websites of German Airports, Admin

Cyberwarfare

Cyberattacks Target Websites of German Airports, Admin

Websites of German airports, administration bodies and banks were hit by DDoS attacks attributed to Russian hacker group Killnet

January 26, 2023
Fortinet Ships Emergency Patch for Already-Exploited VPN Flaw

Application Security

Fortinet Ships Emergency Patch for Already-Exploited VPN Flaw

Fortinet on Monday issued an emergency patch to cover a severe vulnerability in its FortiOS SSL-VPN product, warning that hackers have already exploited the...

December 12, 2022
How the Atomized Network Changed Enterprise Protection

Network Security

How the Atomized Network Changed Enterprise Protection

Our networks have become atomized which, for starters, means they’re highly dispersed. Not just in terms of the infrastructure – legacy, on-premises, hybrid, multi-cloud,...

January 31, 2023