14 DAY TRIAL // A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack has been conducted on Monday against multiple websites in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, by individuals associating themselves with the Anonymous hacker collective.
The reason behind these actions is the fact that the city passed some laws that restrict panhandling at busy intersections, sleeping on public property downtown, and limit charitable groups’ feeding of the homeless outdoors.
Fort Lauderdale residents are also affected by Anonymous activity
This caused an Anonymous reaction, whose members proceeded to take down websites in Fort Lauderdale, including the official site of the city and that of the police department. Furthermore, Sun Sentinel reports that the city’s email system was also affected.
The attackers did not manage to accomplish anything with this because the laws are still in effect, even despite the YouTube video threatening Mayor Jack Seiler with shutting down the main website of Fort Lauderdale unless their demands (revoking the ordinances) are met.
In order to counter the DDoS attack from Anonymous, authorities took the decision to shut the websites down voluntarily; this was also a precaution to avoid any possible breaches of the systems.
Unfortunately, the attacks are not affecting only the authorities, but also the citizens of Fort Lauderdale seeking different information or trying to pay their bills.
In the online video, the Anonymous individuals behind this call the action “Operation Lift the Bans” and give a 24-hour period for the mayor to comply.
Mayor does not give in, expects more DDoS attacks
The city officials have no intent to conform to the demands and have instead notified the state and federal authorities about the incident.
According to Sun Sentinel, Mayor Seiler said that this event would not sway his position in any way, which means that the efforts of Anonymous were in vain. Also, future disruption activity aimed at city websites could end in the same way.
DDoS attacks have become a common instrument of protest lately, as these services are quite cheap on the underground market, a mid-sized attack costing as much as $50 / €40, allowing anyone with a little money to contract a provider of this kind of services.
In some cases, a DDoS can be just the smoke screen for more damaging activities, such as gaining unauthorized access to the network and reaching sensitive areas.
However, this does not appear to have happened at Fort Lauderdale, as the mayor said that no breach had been recorded. More DDoS incidents are expected in the coming period, though.
