http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol ... b/article6742464.eceHackers from Russia may have attacked Google, Twitter and Facebook in an attempt to silence a pro-Georgian blogger, it has emerged.
A year after troops from the two countries became locked in a five-day war, the co-ordinated cyber assaults shut down Twitter for a couple of hours and disrupted access for Facebook users.
LiveJournal, a blogging site, was also hit while Google managed to fend off "denial-of-service" attacks. The hacking technique uses thousands of compromised computers to contact a single site at the same time, preventing legitimate traffic from getting through.
A Georgian blogger by the name of Cyxymu has accounts on all the websites and was the target, according to a senior security executive at Facebook.
"It was a simultaneous attack across a number of properties targeting him to keep his voice from being heard," Max Kelly told CNET News.
"We're actively investigating the source of the attacks and we hope to be able to find out the individuals involved in the back end and to take action against them if we can."
The micro-blogging site Twitter, used by several million people in Britain, was overwhelmed by the attack. Facebook, which has more than 250 million users worldwide, and Google — because of a YouTube account associated with Cyxymu — were targeted but were not badly affected.
i'm just saying. without facebook, twitter, etc... imagine all the spoiled teen girls who may have gone insane because they couldn't take to their friends online?????
