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China's Net Connectivity Goes Dark, Censorship Tech to Blame?

CNN reports that the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), a state-run department, blamed a "malfunction in root servers" for a massive, 8 hour Internet failure that occurred on Tuesday across the giant country. Security analysts quoted by the official Xinhua news agency said this could have been the result of a cyber attack by hackers -- though this has yet to be proven.

The New York Times notes that whatever happened, much of China's Internet traffic was instead amusingly routed to a small, 1,700-square-foot house in Cheyenne, Wyoming:
quote:
The China Internet Network Information Center, a state-run agency that deals with Internet affairs, said it had traced the problem to the country’s domain name system...Those servers, which act as a switchboard for Internet traffic behind China’s Great Firewall, routed traffic from some of China’s most popular sites, including Baidu and Sina, to a block of Internet addresses registered to Sophidea Incorporated, a mysterious company housed on a residential street in Cheyenne, Wyo.
While speculation was originally focused on hackers or cyberattacks, the Times notes that speculation has since shifted to a problem caused by China's massive Internet censorship systems.
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Steve B
Premium Member
join:2004-08-02
Auburn, WA

Steve B

Premium Member

Ahhh, China....


miataman
I've attained a PHD in DVR.
Premium Member
join:2010-10-27
Chelmsford, MA

miataman

Premium Member

Re: Ahhh, China....

Googling of "Sophidea Inc" leads to a great read, having to do with Russian brides in the US. worth the time.

tshirt
Premium Member
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA

tshirt

Premium Member

The problem with having the whole house on one circuit is...

... when someone/anyone unscrews the fuse...
Joe12345678
join:2003-07-22
Des Plaines, IL

Joe12345678

Member

Re: The problem with having the whole house on one circuit is...

what when joejack on backhoe cuts the cable?

firephoto
Truth and reality matters
Premium Member
join:2003-03-18
Brewster, WA

firephoto

Premium Member

Chinese New year

Or maybe lots of people started their 2+ week country wide holiday a little early? Government jobs tend to be much more liberal about taking extra time off even in the supposed evil places and I'd guess more so when it's the Chinese New Year.
amungus
Premium Member
join:2004-11-26
America

amungus

Premium Member

Ripple effects

Very weird story.

I have to wonder - what happened to all the traffic that might've made it through that endpoint? What about the systems in-between? That seems like an awful lot of potential traffic that probably hit a ton of places en route to its new destination.

battleop
join:2005-09-28
00000

battleop

Member

Good..

"this could have been the result of a cyber attack by hackers"

It's nice to know that engineers in China have to deal with this shit too. I often wonder if Chinese engineers see massive amounts of port scans and sipvicious probes from the US and UK like we see form China and other Asian countries.

pende_tim
Premium Member
join:2004-01-04
Selbyville, DE

pende_tim

Premium Member

Oh My

I bet he blew his monthly data cap!

McLovin
Chicka chicka yeah
Premium Member
join:2005-06-12
Fairbanks, AK

McLovin

Premium Member

I wondered why...

I didn't see any failed login attempts to my servers last night...

I suppose this is what happens when you don't use secure BGP...

Aubrey9853
@choopa.net

Aubrey9853

Anon

...

And people in China will finally start to realize the importance of mesh networks.

Fraud101
@comcast.net

Fraud101

Anon

The company where traffic sent specializes creating fradulent corporations

Here is the low down on what kind of businesses were run out of that little house in Wyoming:

»www.reuters.com/article/ ··· 20110628

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium Member
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK

KrK

Premium Member

Re: The company where traffic sent specializes creating fradulent corporations

Yup. You can get away with everything from fraud to income tax evasion, and the only "person" left holding the bag is your "bankrupt" "Corporation." You skate away scott-free.