'America's Most Wanted' site said DoS'ed after cyber-crime broadcast

[William Knowles <wk () C4I ORG>]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/000516-000004.html

America's Most Wanted host John Walsh urged his viewers on Saturday
night to help "take down" those responsible for the distributed denial
of service (DDoS) attacks which briefly crippled numerous high-profile
Web sites back in February.

The low-brow crime-busters show from Fox Television draws a large
audience with its melodramatic and bloody crime re-enactments and
psychobabbling criminal profiles. Walsh has even taken to the gimmick
of introducing segments from within a moving helicopter to cultivate
the illusion of his immediate response to the pleas of frustrated
policemen throughout the nation.

This weekend's show included a typically overblown segment on cyber
terrorism, during which Walsh fretted about fifteen-year-old DDoS
suspect Mafiaboy while treating viewers to images of violently
flattened buildings and a tank firing its gun in a (presumably
Middle-Eastern) desert.

"Tonight let's take down some cyber terrorists," Walsh urged, and gave
an account of the devastating ruin caused by the DDoS attacks.

The show's viewers are constantly reminded to rat on their neighbours
by phoning tips via a toll-free line. "The FBI believes the [DDoS]
hackers are bragging in chat rooms, so the same tool they use to
attack may be the key to catching them," Walsh said.

The Register was not aware that IRC and Instant Messenger have the
potential to launch retaliatory DDoS attacks. We learn something new
every day.

Walsh also interviewed FBI Director Louis Freeh, who struggled visibly
to maintain an air of dignity in spite of the situation, and NIPC
Director Michel Vatis, whose demeanour towards Walsh was a good deal
more indulgent and affable. Both men repeated their core messages
regarding the devastating potential of cyber crime, which we have
reported ad nauseum, so we'll just spare our readers another re-hash
today.

Most interestingly, an AMW spokesman interviewed by SecurityFocus.com
said that the show's Web site went off-line following the broadcast,
though he couldn't explain why. "Maybe those hackers decided to punish
us," he is quoted as saying.

Of course it could be a coincidence, but if not it will undoubtedly
convince the programme's producers that malicious Script Kiddies
really are in a league with Timothy McVeigh and Osama Bin Laden, a
conviction towards which they already show strong inclinations


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