ISPs 'Should be Responsible' for Hacker Attacks

["Fergie" <fergdawg () netzero net>]

Via NewScientistTech.

[snip]

Internet service providers (ISPs) should be made legally liable for the
damage caused by "denial of service" (DoS) attacks carried out via
their networks, a leading internet lawyer says.

A DoS attack involves taking down a website or sever by flooding it
with meaningless traffic, usually sent from a network of tens of
thousands of PCs infected with viruses and controlled remotely. These
viral "bots" do nothing until a hacker sends a command that tells them
to attack a target, but can also be used to relay millions of spam
email messages.

At a conference called "Blocking Denial of Service Attacks on the
Internet", to be held in London on 13 September [I think perhaps this
is a misprint and is actually Novermber? - ferg], Lilian Edwards, an
internet lawyer based at the University of Southampton, UK, will argue
that legal measures must be taken if these attacks are to be stemmed.
Edwards notes that ISPs currently have no legal obligation to check
data relayed to and from internet users. She thinks, however, that
governments could require them to do so.

Ian Brown of the Communication Research Network, an internet policy
group based in Cambridge, UK, will chair the conference. The event will
be held at the UK government's Department of Trade and Industry. "There
will be a range of people present from government, industry, ISPs and
companies that want to protect their online presence," he says.

[snip]

More:
http://www.newscientisttech.com/article.ns?id=dn10494

- ferg



--
"Fergie", a.k.a. Paul Ferguson
 Engineering Architecture for the Internet
 fergdawg(at)netzero.net
 ferg's tech blog: http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/


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