Whatever the hell happened last night presumably happened again. Sucks to be ITS. Again, since Wesleying still works for most people, here’s how to get around it.
12:44 edit: disaster averted.
Whatever the hell happened last night presumably happened again. Sucks to be ITS. Again, since Wesleying still works for most people, here’s how to get around it.
12:44 edit: disaster averted.
The DoS attacks are using our DNS server to send massive amounts of spam. It’s fixable, and probably will be if it happens again tonight (expect it to).
Man, some of these comments make me wish I were a heavy sleeper and could sleep through emergency phone calls. Grumble.
Man, some of these comments make me wish I were a heavy sleeper and could sleep through emergency phone calls. Grumble.
Man, some of these comments make me wish I were a heavy sleeper and could sleep through emergency phone calls. Grumble.
Facts:
1.
What happened tonight was exactly the same as what happened last night. Wesleyan’s DNS servers went down. Almost certainly for the same reason they were down last night: a denial of service attack. This is an attack on a very specific piece of Wesleyan’s network infrastructure.
2.
DNS servers map domain names (like wesleying.org) to IP addresses (like 74.126.25.10), which is an address that your computer can use to communicate with other computers. Since there are a lot of domain names and mappings can change frequently, your computer doesn’t store all of them. It does, however, store *some* of them, which brings me to fact number three…
3.
The ACB and Wesleying are *absolutely not* hosted at Wesleyan. As I mentioned, your computer does store some domain name to IP mappings locally. It does this for sites it visits frequently, because it’s (slightly) faster than querying a DNS server each time.
4.
E-mail is, at best, a *secondary* method of emergency communication. If there was important information we absolutely needed to hear it would get to us. (By phone, most likely. Being something that actively alerts people, they’re a much better tool for fast emergency communication anyway.)
Also, it’s not like Wesleyan’s e-mail was (anywhere close to) perfectly stable when it was hosted internally, either.
5.
If you’re trying to break into something, a DoS attack is not, generally, the way to do it. The purpose is (generally) to prevent a service from being used.
6.
There are any number of possible motivations for a denial of service attack. Given that it’s happened two days in a row at approximately the same time, I’d say it’s likely someone (or a group of someones) with resources has decided to screw with us.
7.
ITS is, I’m sure, doing their best. DoS attacks are unpredictable and very difficult to prevent. I’m not any happier about the situation than anyone else, but blaming ITS for problems largely outside the scope of their control is not productive.
Facts:
1.
What happened tonight was exactly the same as what happened last night. Wesleyan’s DNS servers went down. Almost certainly for the same reason they were down last night: a denial of service attack. This is an attack on a very specific piece of Wesleyan’s network infrastructure.
2.
DNS servers map domain names (like wesleying.org) to IP addresses (like 74.126.25.10), which is an address that your computer can use to communicate with other computers. Since there are a lot of domain names and mappings can change frequently, your computer doesn’t store all of them. It does, however, store *some* of them, which brings me to fact number three…
3.
The ACB and Wesleying are *absolutely not* hosted at Wesleyan. As I mentioned, your computer does store some domain name to IP mappings locally. It does this for sites it visits frequently, because it’s (slightly) faster than querying a DNS server each time.
4.
E-mail is, at best, a *secondary* method of emergency communication. If there was important information we absolutely needed to hear it would get to us. (By phone, most likely. Being something that actively alerts people, they’re a much better tool for fast emergency communication anyway.)
Also, it’s not like Wesleyan’s e-mail was (anywhere close to) perfectly stable when it was hosted internally, either.
5.
If you’re trying to break into something, a DoS attack is not, generally, the way to do it. The purpose is (generally) to prevent a service from being used.
6.
There are any number of possible motivations for a denial of service attack. Given that it’s happened two days in a row at approximately the same time, I’d say it’s likely someone (or a group of someones) with resources has decided to screw with us.
7.
ITS is, I’m sure, doing their best. DoS attacks are unpredictable and very difficult to prevent. I’m not any happier about the situation than anyone else, but blaming ITS for problems largely outside the scope of their control is not productive.
Facts:
1.
What happened tonight was exactly the same as what happened last night. Wesleyan’s DNS servers went down. Almost certainly for the same reason they were down last night: a denial of service attack. This is an attack on a very specific piece of Wesleyan’s network infrastructure.
2.
DNS servers map domain names (like wesleying.org) to IP addresses (like 74.126.25.10), which is an address that your computer can use to communicate with other computers. Since there are a lot of domain names and mappings can change frequently, your computer doesn’t store all of them. It does, however, store *some* of them, which brings me to fact number three…
3.
The ACB and Wesleying are *absolutely not* hosted at Wesleyan. As I mentioned, your computer does store some domain name to IP mappings locally. It does this for sites it visits frequently, because it’s (slightly) faster than querying a DNS server each time.
4.
E-mail is, at best, a *secondary* method of emergency communication. If there was important information we absolutely needed to hear it would get to us. (By phone, most likely. Being something that actively alerts people, they’re a much better tool for fast emergency communication anyway.)
Also, it’s not like Wesleyan’s e-mail was (anywhere close to) perfectly stable when it was hosted internally, either.
5.
If you’re trying to break into something, a DoS attack is not, generally, the way to do it. The purpose is (generally) to prevent a service from being used.
6.
There are any number of possible motivations for a denial of service attack. Given that it’s happened two days in a row at approximately the same time, I’d say it’s likely someone (or a group of someones) with resources has decided to screw with us.
7.
ITS is, I’m sure, doing their best. DoS attacks are unpredictable and very difficult to prevent. I’m not any happier about the situation than anyone else, but blaming ITS for problems largely outside the scope of their control is not productive.
You have a phone jack in your room.
Pay the 20 bucks and get DSL if it’s such a bother to you.
Or better yet, make mommy and daddy pay it.
You have a phone jack in your room.
Pay the 20 bucks and get DSL if it’s such a bother to you.
Or better yet, make mommy and daddy pay it.
You have a phone jack in your room.
Pay the 20 bucks and get DSL if it’s such a bother to you.
Or better yet, make mommy and daddy pay it.
Anyone think it’s bullshit how much money we spend to go here and can’t get internet (none, as opposed to the incredibly slow internet that we have all become used to)during a time of year when everyone has a ton of work?
Anyone think it’s bullshit how much money we spend to go here and can’t get internet (none, as opposed to the incredibly slow internet that we have all become used to)during a time of year when everyone has a ton of work?
Anyone think it’s bullshit how much money we spend to go here and can’t get internet (none, as opposed to the incredibly slow internet that we have all become used to)during a time of year when everyone has a ton of work?
@Rishabh
To my knowledge, neither ACB nor Wesleying are hosted using university resources.
@Rishabh
To my knowledge, neither ACB nor Wesleying are hosted using university resources.
@Rishabh
To my knowledge, neither ACB nor Wesleying are hosted using university resources.
ACB was never down.
It’s hosted within the wesleyan campus as is wesleying.
ACB was never down.
It’s hosted within the wesleyan campus as is wesleying.
ACB was never down.
It’s hosted within the wesleyan campus as is wesleying.
Theory: ACB is still down. Could someone be doing this in an attempt to shut down the ACB?
Theory: ACB is still down. Could someone be doing this in an attempt to shut down the ACB?
Theory: ACB is still down. Could someone be doing this in an attempt to shut down the ACB?
I’m not super tech savvy, but what happened last night was a complete internet outage.
Aka kaput!
The only thing that worked was the home page, and that’s because it’s on the cache (computer memory).
What happened tonight, was that the infrastructure within the uni was fine, but anything on the outside was inaccessible. If webmail was still hosted here instead of outsourced, then we’d be fine (I think), but because it’s via gmail, we can’t access it.
This wouldn’t have mattered during yesterday’s outage since EVERYTHING was kaput.
They know what’s happening, but it’s crazy hard to prevent if done well because it takes time to find it.
Wes is a really silly target for something like this, except for someone who’s trying to
‘practice’ on an easy target. Our info isn’t crazy sensitive compared to say banks or govt records.
It makes very little sense for us to be targeted.
I’m not super tech savvy, but what happened last night was a complete internet outage.
Aka kaput!
The only thing that worked was the home page, and that’s because it’s on the cache (computer memory).
What happened tonight, was that the infrastructure within the uni was fine, but anything on the outside was inaccessible. If webmail was still hosted here instead of outsourced, then we’d be fine (I think), but because it’s via gmail, we can’t access it.
This wouldn’t have mattered during yesterday’s outage since EVERYTHING was kaput.
They know what’s happening, but it’s crazy hard to prevent if done well because it takes time to find it.
Wes is a really silly target for something like this, except for someone who’s trying to
‘practice’ on an easy target. Our info isn’t crazy sensitive compared to say banks or govt records.
It makes very little sense for us to be targeted.
I’m not super tech savvy, but what happened last night was a complete internet outage.
Aka kaput!
The only thing that worked was the home page, and that’s because it’s on the cache (computer memory).
What happened tonight, was that the infrastructure within the uni was fine, but anything on the outside was inaccessible. If webmail was still hosted here instead of outsourced, then we’d be fine (I think), but because it’s via gmail, we can’t access it.
This wouldn’t have mattered during yesterday’s outage since EVERYTHING was kaput.
They know what’s happening, but it’s crazy hard to prevent if done well because it takes time to find it.
Wes is a really silly target for something like this, except for someone who’s trying to
‘practice’ on an easy target. Our info isn’t crazy sensitive compared to say banks or govt records.
It makes very little sense for us to be targeted.
Wait…
If anything like last year happened and we couldn’t access email, that’s a huge safety issue.
I don’t know what it means to have email “sourced” here, but if ITS can’t figure out why this is happening and how to prevent it, they should (for basic safety reasons) have a backup plan.
Wait…
If anything like last year happened and we couldn’t access email, that’s a huge safety issue.
I don’t know what it means to have email “sourced” here, but if ITS can’t figure out why this is happening and how to prevent it, they should (for basic safety reasons) have a backup plan.
Wait…
If anything like last year happened and we couldn’t access email, that’s a huge safety issue.
I don’t know what it means to have email “sourced” here, but if ITS can’t figure out why this is happening and how to prevent it, they should (for basic safety reasons) have a backup plan.
I think it just came back.
I just got onto google in ST lab.
Distractions galore!!!
I think it just came back.
I just got onto google in ST lab.
Distractions galore!!!
I think it just came back.
I just got onto google in ST lab.
Distractions galore!!!
woodframe internet ftw!
woodframe internet ftw!
woodframe internet ftw!
I think professors have their email sourced through wesleyan still. But they don’t live on campus, so they still have internets. But we don’t, and don’t.
Ironic, innit…
This is the hippest internet outage ever.
I think professors have their email sourced through wesleyan still. But they don’t live on campus, so they still have internets. But we don’t, and don’t.
Ironic, innit…
This is the hippest internet outage ever.
I think professors have their email sourced through wesleyan still. But they don’t live on campus, so they still have internets. But we don’t, and don’t.
Ironic, innit…
This is the hippest internet outage ever.
I think this highlights a really important issue.
If there is an essential communication that needs to go through via email, it won’t work anymore because the ‘outgoing’ internet is down.
If our webmail was ‘sourced’ here, then it would work.
Just sayin’.
Not having access to email in an emergency is crazy!
I know they can use phones as well, but will that happen at the same speed as an all campus email?
-Rishabh
I think this highlights a really important issue.
If there is an essential communication that needs to go through via email, it won’t work anymore because the ‘outgoing’ internet is down.
If our webmail was ‘sourced’ here, then it would work.
Just sayin’.
Not having access to email in an emergency is crazy!
I know they can use phones as well, but will that happen at the same speed as an all campus email?
-Rishabh
I think this highlights a really important issue.
If there is an essential communication that needs to go through via email, it won’t work anymore because the ‘outgoing’ internet is down.
If our webmail was ‘sourced’ here, then it would work.
Just sayin’.
Not having access to email in an emergency is crazy!
I know they can use phones as well, but will that happen at the same speed as an all campus email?
-Rishabh
changing the DNS settings worked for me when I plugged my computer into an ethernet port, but not wireless. just saying
changing the DNS settings worked for me when I plugged my computer into an ethernet port, but not wireless. just saying
changing the DNS settings worked for me when I plugged my computer into an ethernet port, but not wireless. just saying
FFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUU
FFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUU
FFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUU
The workaround only works with an Ethernet cable. For those of on AirWes we are screwed.
A DOS attack? Against a small liberal arts college? Highly, fucking, doubtful. It’s probably an incredibly small one, and we’re getting fucked because our security/resources are so budget.
Thought: Perhaps it’s a computer whiz student here trying to secure an extension on the basis of not being able to access online resources!?!? Probably not though, fuck this internet.
A DOS attack? Against a small liberal arts college? Highly, fucking, doubtful. It’s probably an incredibly small one, and we’re getting fucked because our security/resources are so budget.
Thought: Perhaps it’s a computer whiz student here trying to secure an extension on the basis of not being able to access online resources!?!? Probably not though, fuck this internet.
A DOS attack? Against a small liberal arts college? Highly, fucking, doubtful. It’s probably an incredibly small one, and we’re getting fucked because our security/resources are so budget.
Thought: Perhaps it’s a computer whiz student here trying to secure an extension on the basis of not being able to access online resources!?!? Probably not though, fuck this internet.