Telecommunications firm Dhiraagu has confirmed that websites in the Maldives have been targeted in apparent Denial of Service (DDoS) cyberattacks, according to local media.
DDoS attacks involve malevolently flooding a web server with queries, locking up bandwidth and preventing legitimate users from accessing a site.
New outlets Sun Online and Haveeru reported accessibility problems, particularly from abroad, according to reports this morning.
Speaking to Haveeru, Dhiraagu’s Marketing, Communications and Public Relations Manager Mohamed Mirshan claimed the attacks were targeted at the newspaper, and not Dhiraagu infrastructure.
“DDoS is very common all around the world. We have taken the same measures taken internationally. DDoS cannot be controlled by anyone other than its originators. The only thing we can do is mitigate the attacks. Dhiraagu has also taken all necessary measures taken against it worldwide,” Mirshan told Haveeru.
Meanwhile, an anonymous email was sent to police and several media outlets, including Sun and Haveeru, from a group claiming to take responsibility for recent attacks on Dhiraagu’s web servers.
“For years our main Internet Service Provider and Communication Provider “Dhiraagu” has been taking our money from us. No government of the Maldives helped us solve this problem. No politician gives a damn about improving the Information Technology and its awareness in Maldives,” the email read, promising escalating cyber attacks “with inside help from Dhiraagu employees”, on targets including government email servers and the provider’s ADSL service.
Dhiraagu’s media division referred Minivan News to Mirshan, who was not responding to Minivan News at time of press.
Police Spokesperson Sub-Inspector Hassan Haneef said police had not received reports of such an incident.
“We have a financial unit that currently investigates such cases, but we are in the process of trying to establish a cybercrime unit that should be operating in 2-3 months,” Haneef said.
Following attacks that affected the company’s web services in January 2011, Mirshan told Minivan News that the company had been receiving such attacks since August 2009, which he claimed were “very organised.”
“We have been working with our counterparts both in the country and overseas around the clock in order to try and minimise the impacts of the attack on our services,” Mirshan said at the time.
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This is a big fat lie by Dhiraagu, Haveeru and Sun. They block access to these sites themselves from some countries. Lately I cannot access Haveeru or Sun from where I am. But if I use a proxy tool (to change IP address of my computer), I can access both these sites normally. And both these sites go down at same time... To be honest this is a game played by this coup government and their allies to blame on anti-coup activists...
That is very very true Software engineer !! I can take a snapshot even to prove you of sun page when I visit the page I can't access, there is just a blank page. There are more ways to access them though. I can access after disabling anti-virus and firewall
Look how sun appears.
http://img853.imageshack.us/img853/1208/downloadhxc.jpg
And here is DhiTV
http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/4729/dhitvpage.jpg
This I know as well is because of my location.
Maldivians are truly gifted.
First you become a helping hand in the short movie. Then a passerby in the next. Soon a star, then a director, a producer.
Same with politicians. One day, suddenly you know everything.
Same with sheikhs. First a beard. Then first row in mosques. Pretty soon, you dictate how your neighbours must bring up their kids.
Same with these software engineers. They know everything about every technology, threats, counter mechanisms. Etc.
That is Maldives. Even the brain surgeons must seek guidance from locals beggars who have never stepped into a school.
Maldives. The land of repressed ignorance. The land of heaven. The land god has forgotten.
And I wonder why Haveeru refused to publish same comment on Haveeru Online... http://www.haveeru.com.mv/dhivehi/news/123663
If Dhiraagu,Haveeru and Sun online are coordinating this, then why is Minivan reporting it as news. Of course, DDoS occurs with numerous websites in developing countries; sometimes by activists other times by technical failures. But in Maldives, you never really know the truth.
who's dump enough to host their sites on dhiraagu