DDoS attacks on Dyn

{{short description|2016 cyberattack in Europe and North America}}

{{Infobox event

| title = DDoS attacks on Dyn

| image = Level3 Outage Map (US) - 21 October 2016.png

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| caption = Map of the areas most affected by the attacks,
16:45 UTC, 21 October 2016.{{cite web|url=http://downdetector.com/status/level3/map/|title=Level3 outage? Current problems and outages|work=downdetector.com|access-date=23 October 2016}}

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| time = 11:10 – 13:20 UTC
15:50 – 17:00 UTC
20:00 – 22:10 UTC{{cite web|url=https://dyn.com/blog/dyn-analysis-summary-of-friday-october-21-attack/|title=Official Dyn Analysis Summary|author=Dyn|date=26 October 2016|work=dyn.com|access-date=5 February 2019}}

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| date = {{start date|2016|10|21}}

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| location = Europe and North America, especially the Eastern United States

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| type = Distributed denial-of-service

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| suspects = New World Hackers, Anonymous
(self-claimed)

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On October 21, 2016, three consecutive distributed denial-of-service attacks were launched against the Domain Name System (DNS) provider Dyn. The attack caused major Internet platforms and services to be unavailable to large swathes of users in Europe and North America.{{Cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/21/many-sites-including-twitter-and-spotify-suffering-outage/|title=Many sites including Twitter, Shopify and Spotify suffering outage|last1=Etherington|first1=Darrell|last2=Conger|first2=Kate|website=TechCrunch|date=21 October 2016 |access-date=2016-10-21}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-21/internet-service-disrupted-in-large-parts-of-eastern-u-s|title=The Possible Vendetta Behind the East Coast Web Slowdown|newspaper=Bloomberg.com|access-date=2016-10-21}} The groups Anonymous and New World Hackers claimed responsibility for the attack, but scant evidence was provided.

As a DNS provider, Dyn provides to end-users the service of mapping an Internet domain name—when, for instance, entered into a web browser—to its corresponding IP address. The distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack was accomplished through numerous DNS lookup requests from tens of millions of IP addresses. The activities are believed to have been executed through a botnet consisting of many Internet-connected devices—such as printers, IP cameras, residential gateways and baby monitors—that had been infected with the Mirai malware.

Affected services

Services affected by the attack included:

Airbnb{{cite web|last1=Heine|first1=Christopher|title=A Major Cyber Attack Is Hurting Twitter, Spotify, Pinterest, Etsy and Other Sites|url=http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/major-cyber-attack-hurting-twitter-spotify-etsy-shopify-and-other-sites-174214|website=AdWeek|date=21 October 2016 |access-date=21 October 2016}}
Amazon.com{{cite news|last1=Lovelace Jr.|first1=Berkeley|title=After cyberassault KOs Amazon, Twitter, Spotify, third attack reported|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2016/10/21/major-websites-across-east-coast-knocked-out-in-apparent-ddos-attack.html|access-date=21 October 2016|work=CNBC|date=21 October 2016}}
Ancestry.com
The A.V. Club{{cite web|last1=Chavez|first1=Danette|title=Here's why half the internet went down today|url=http://www.avclub.com/article/heres-why-half-internet-went-down-today-244611|website=The A.V. Club|access-date=21 October 2016|date=21 October 2016}}
BBC{{cite web|last1=Chiel|first1=Ethan|title=Here Are the Sites You Can't Access Because Someone Took the Internet Down|url=http://fusion.net/story/360952/which-sites-affected-ddos-attack/|website=Fusion|access-date=21 October 2016|archive-date=22 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161022023041/http://fusion.net/story/360952/which-sites-affected-ddos-attack/|url-status=dead}}
The Boston Globe
Box{{cite web|last1=Murdock|first1=Jason|title=Twitter, Spotify, Reddit among top websites knocked offline by major DDoS attack|url=http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/twitter-spotify-reddit-among-top-websites-knocked-offline-by-major-ddos-attack-1587646|website=International Business Times UK|access-date=21 October 2016|date=21 October 2016}}
Business Insider
CNN
Comcast{{Cite news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/10/when-the-entire-internet-seems-to-break-at-once/504956/|title=What's Going On With the Internet Today?|last1=Meyer|first1=Robinson|last2=LaFrance|first2=Adrienne|newspaper=The Atlantic|language=en-US|access-date=2016-10-21}}
CrunchBase
DirecTV
The Elder Scrolls Online{{cite tweet|user=TESOnline|number=789545206228156416|date=21 October 2016|title=We are still investigating intermittent login issues some players are experiencing across all megaservers.}}
Electronic Arts
Etsy{{cite web|title=Massive web attacks briefly knock out top sites|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-37728015|website=BBC News|date=21 October 2016}}
Evergreen ILS
FiveThirtyEight
Fox News{{cite web|last1=Thielman|first1=Sam|last2=Johnston|first2=Chris|title=Major cyber attack disrupts internet service across Europe and US|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/21/ddos-attack-dyn-internet-denial-service|website=The Guardian|access-date=21 October 2016|date=21 October 2016}}
The Guardian
GitHub
Grubhub{{cite web|last1=Hinckley|first1=Story|title=Did the East Coast just suffer a massive cyberattack?|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/2016/1021/Did-the-East-Coast-just-suffer-a-massive-cyberattack|website=Christian Science Monitor|access-date=21 October 2016|date=21 October 2016}}
HBO
Heroku{{cite web|last1=Hughes|first1=Matthew|title=A massive DDOS attack against Dyn DNS is causing havoc online [Updated]|url=https://thenextweb.com/security/2016/10/21/massive-ddos-attack-dyn-dns-causing-havoc-online/|website=The Next Web|access-date=21 October 2016|date=21 October 2016}}
HostGator
iHeartRadio{{cite web|title=Having internet problems today? Here's what's going on|url=http://www.wjhg.com/content/news/Having-internet-problems-today-Heres-whats-going-on-397907861.html|website=WJHG-TV|date=21 October 2016 |access-date=21 October 2016}}
Imgur{{cite web|last1=Chacos|first1=Brad|title=Major DDoS attack on Dyn DNS knocks Spotify, Twitter, Github, PayPal, and more offline|url=http://www.pcworld.com/article/3133847/internet/ddos-attack-on-dyn-knocks-spotify-twitter-github-etsy-and-more-offline.html|website=PCWorld|access-date=22 October 2016}}
Indiegogo
Mashable{{cite web|last1=Menn|first1=Joseph|title=Cyber attacks disrupt PayPal, Twitter, other sites|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-cyber-idUSKCN12L1ME|website=Reuters|access-date=23 October 2016|date=22 October 2016}}
National Hockey League
Netflix
The New York Times
Overstock.com
PayPal
Pinterest
Pixlr
PlayStation Network
Qualtrics
Quora
Reddit{{Cite news|url=https://gizmodo.com/this-is-probably-why-half-the-internet-shut-down-today-1788062835|title=This Is Probably Why Half the Internet Shut Down Today [Update: It's Happening Again]|last=Turton|first=William|newspaper=Gizmodo|language=en-US|access-date=2016-10-21}}
Roblox{{cite web|title=DDoS Attack on DNS; Major sites including GitHub PSN, Twitter Suffering Outage|url=https://www.hackread.com/ddos-attack-dns-sites-suffer-outage/|website=HackRead|access-date=23 October 2016|date=21 October 2016}}
Ruby Lane
RuneScape
SaneBox
Seamless
Second Life{{cite web|title=[RESOLVED] Unscheduled Maintenance|url=https://community.secondlife.com/t5/Status-Grid/RESOLVED-Unscheduled-Maintenance/ba-p/3075187|access-date=23 October 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161024025120/https://community.secondlife.com/t5/Status-Grid/RESOLVED-Unscheduled-Maintenance/ba-p/3075187|archive-date=24 October 2016}}
Shopify
Slack
SoundCloud
Squarespace
Spotify
Starbucks
Storify
Swedish Civil Contingencies AgencyJoel Westerholm. "[https://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=83&artikel=6547041 Så sänktes Twitter och Regeringen.se i attacken]", Sveriges Radio, 24 October 2016. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
Swedish Government
Tumblr
Twilio
Twitter
Verizon Communications
Visa{{cite web|title=U.S. internet disrupted as firm hit by cyberattacks|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/internet-disrupted-dyn-hit-by-ddos-cyberattack/|website=CBS News|date=21 October 2016 |access-date=21 October 2016}}
Vox Media{{cite web|last1=Lecher|first1=Colin|title=Denial-of-service attacks are shutting down major websites across the internet|url=https://www.theverge.com/2016/10/21/13357344/ddos-attack-websites-shut-down|website=The Verge|access-date=21 October 2016|date=21 October 2016}}
Walgreens
The Wall Street Journal
Wikia
Wired
Wix.com{{cite web|last1=Gallagher|first1=Sean|title=DoS attack on major DNS provider brings Internet to morning crawl [Updated]|url=https://arstechnica.com/security/2016/10/dos-attack-on-major-dns-provider-brings-internet-to-morning-crawl/|website=Ars Technica|date=21 October 2016|access-date=21 October 2016}}
WWE Network{{cite web|last1=Wolkenbrod|first1=Rob|title=Why is the WWE Network Down on Friday, October 21?|url=http://dailyddt.com/2016/10/21/wwe-network-down-ddos-attack/|website=Daily DDT|access-date=22 October 2016|date=21 October 2016|archive-date=22 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161022162537/http://dailyddt.com/2016/10/21/wwe-network-down-ddos-attack/|url-status=dead}}
Xbox Live{{cite web|last1=Sarkar|first1=Samit|title=Massive DDoS attack affecting PSN, some Xbox Live apps (update)|url=http://www.polygon.com/2016/10/21/13361014/psn-xbox-live-down-ddos-attack-dyn|website=Polygon|access-date=23 October 2016|date=21 October 2016}}
Yammer
Yelp
Zillow

Investigation

File:Cyberattack Slows US Access to Popular Sites.webm spokesperson Josh Earnest responds on October 21, 2016, the day of the attack]]

The US Department of Homeland Security started an investigation into the attacks, according to a White House source.{{Cite web|last1=Etherington|first1=Darrell|last2=Conger|first2=Kate|title=Many sites including Twitter, Shopify and Spotify suffering outage|url=https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/21/many-sites-including-twitter-and-spotify-suffering-outage/|access-date=2016-10-21|website=TechCrunch|date=21 October 2016 }}{{Cite news|url=http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/websites-down-possible-cyber-attack-230145|title=Government probes major cyberattack causing internet outages|newspaper=Politico|access-date=2016-10-21}}{{Cite magazine|url=https://time.com/4540921/internet-dyn-outage-homeland-security/|title=Homeland Security Is 'Investigating All Potential Causes' of Internet Disruptions|last1=Finkle|first1=Jim|last2=Volz|first2=Dustin|magazine=Time |access-date=2016-10-21}} No group of hackers claimed responsibility during or in the immediate aftermath of the attack.{{cite web|url=https://money.cnn.com/2016/10/21/technology/ddos-attack-popular-sites/index.html|title=Popular sites like Amazon, Twitter and Netflix suffer outages|website=money.cnn.com|date=21 October 2016|publisher=CNN Money|access-date=October 21, 2016}} Dyn's chief strategist said in an interview that the assaults on the company's servers were very complex and unlike everyday DDoS attacks.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/22/business/internet-problems.html|title=No, It's Not Just You. The Internet Is (Still) Having Problems.|last1=Perlroth|first1=Nicole|date=2016-10-21|last2=Mccann|first2=Erin|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=2016-10-21}} Barbara Simons, a member of the advisory board of the United States Election Assistance Commission, said such attacks could affect electronic voting for overseas military or civilians.

Dyn disclosed that, according to business risk intelligence firm FlashPoint and Akamai Technologies, the attack was a botnet coordinated through numerous Internet of Things-enabled (IoT) devices, including cameras, residential gateways, and baby monitors, that had been infected with Mirai malware. The attribution of the attack to the Mirai botnet had been previously reported by BackConnect Inc., another security firm.{{Cite news|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/blame-the-internet-of-things-for-destroying-the-internet-today/|title=Blame the Internet of Things for Destroying the Internet Today|newspaper=Motherboard|language=en-us|access-date=2016-10-27}} Dyn stated that they were receiving malicious requests from tens of millions of IP addresses.{{Cite news|url=https://www.wired.com/2016/10/internet-outage-ddos-dns-dyn/|title=What We Know About Friday's Massive East Coast Internet Outage|last=Newman|first=Lily Hay|newspaper=WIRED|language=en-US|access-date=2016-10-21}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/22/business/internet-problems-attack.html|title=Internet Attack Spreads, Disrupting Major Websites|last=Perlroth|first=Nicole|date=2016-10-21|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=2016-10-22}} Mirai is designed to brute-force the security on an IoT device, allowing it to be controlled remotely.

Cybersecurity investigator Brian Krebs noted that the source code for Mirai had been released onto the Internet in an open-source manner some weeks prior, which made the investigation of the perpetrator more difficult.{{cite web | url = https://www.theverge.com/2016/10/21/13362354/dyn-dns-ddos-attack-cause-outage-status-explained | title= How an army of vulnerable gadgets took down the web today | first = Nick | last = Statt | date = October 21, 2016 | access-date = October 21, 2016 | work = The Verge }}

On 25 October 2016, US President Obama stated that the investigators still had no idea who carried out the cyberattack.CNN, 25 October 2016, [https://money.cnn.com/2016/10/25/technology/cyberattack-obama-dyn-ddos/index.html Obama: We have no idea who carried out huge cyberattack]

On 13 December 2017, the Justice Department announced that three men (Paras Jha, 21, Josiah White, 20, and Dalton Norman, 21) had entered guilty pleas in cybercrime cases relating to the Mirai and clickfraud botnets.Justice Department, 13 December 2017, [https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/pr/justice-department-announces-charges-and-guilty-pleas-three-computer-crime-cases Justice Department Announces Charges And Guilty Pleas In Three Computer Crime Cases Involving Significant Cyber Attacks]

Perpetrators

In correspondence with the website Politico, hacktivist groups SpainSquad, Anonymous, and New World Hackers claimed responsibility for the attack in retaliation against Ecuador's rescinding Internet access to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, at their embassy in London, where he had been granted asylum.{{cite web |last1=Romm |first1=Tony |last2=Geller |first2=Eric |title=WikiLeaks supporters claim credit for massive U.S. cyberattack, but researchers skeptical |url=http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/websites-down-possible-cyber-attack-230145 |website=Politico |date=21 October 2016 |access-date=22 October 2016}} This claim has yet to be confirmed. WikiLeaks alluded to the attack on Twitter, tweeting "Mr. Assange is still alive and WikiLeaks is still publishing. We ask supporters to stop taking down the US internet. You proved your point."{{cite news |last1=Han |first1=Esther |title=WikiLeaks claims its supporters are behind the massive DDoS cyber attack |url=http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/wikileaks-points-to-its-supporters-for-massive-ddos-cyber-attack-20161021-gs881u.html |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |access-date=22 October 2016 |date=22 October 2016}} New World Hackers has claimed responsibility in the past for similar attacks targeting sites like BBC and ESPN.com.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/10/21/world/europe/ap-disruptive-cyberattack.html|title=Cyberattacks on Key Internet Firm Disrupt Internet Services|last1=Satter |first1=Raphael |last2=Fowler |first2=Bree |last3=Bajak |date=21 October 2016 |newspaper=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |access-date=22 October 2016 |archive-date=2016-10-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161025073904/https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/10/21/world/europe/ap-disruptive-cyberattack.html}}

On October 26, FlashPoint stated that the attack was most likely done by script kiddies.{{cite news|last1=Lomas|first1=Natasha|title=Dyn DNS DDoS likely the work of script kiddies, says FlashPoint, so i guess that means anonymous did it, as most of anonymous are script kiddies anyway |url=https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/26/dyn-dns-ddos-likely-the-work-of-script-kiddies-says-flashpoint/ |access-date=26 October 2016 |work=TechCrunch |date=26 October 2016}}

A November 17, 2016, a Forbes article reported that the attack was likely carried out by "an angry gamer".{{cite web |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/leemathews/2016/11/17/angry-gamer-blamed-for-most-devastating-ddos-of-2016/#78871c472dac |title=Angry Gamer Blamed For Most Devastating DDoS Of 2016 |last=Mathews |first=Lee |date=17 November 2016 |website=Forbes.com |access-date=20 April 2018}}

On December 9, 2020, one of the perpetrators pleaded guilty to taking part in the attack. The perpetrator's name was withheld due to his or her age.{{cite web |url=https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/individual-pleads-guilty-participating-internet-things-cyberattack-2016 |title=Individual Pleads Guilty to Participating in Internet-of-Things Cyberattack in 2016 |date= 9 December 2020 |website=justice.gov |access-date= 7 January 2021}}