No on Proposition 8 Pro-Gay Marriage Web site knocked out by cyber-attack

Though it's not clear yet exactly which band of cyber-thugs launched a denial or service attack on the website of Proposition 8 (a California ballot proposal to outlaw gay marriage) it's clear that bigots now see cyber-intimidation as new tool. 

Equlity California reports

The NO on Prop 8 Web site was hit by a massive cyber invasion called a distributed denial of service attack (DoS) that took down the site for several hours last night, with the assault originating not just in-state, but from Texas, New Jersey and Georgia.

The NO on Prop 8 campaign's Web site attack started late yesterday afternoon when the Web team was alerted by higher-than-normal traffic. The traffic escalated over the next several hours, slowing the system and by 10 pm, a small team of engineers concluded that that NO on 8 website was under a full cyber attack.

"I'm sure we'll hear a lot of denials today from the Prop 8 campaign, but this is clearly an orchestrated attempt to tear down what has become one of the largest grassroots movements in California electoral history," said Patrick Guerriero, NO on Prop 8 Campaign Director. "We have reported this to the FBI and other federal authorities and we have secured our site in ways we never thought would be necessary. But make no mistake - this was an attack against individual rights, not just a Web site."

According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, in a denial-of-service attack, an attacker attempts to prevent legitimate users from accessing information or services. By targeting a computer and its network connection, or the computers and network of the sites, an attacker may be able to prevent someone from accessing e-mail, Web sites, online accounts (banking, etc.), or other services that rely on the affected computer. The most common and obvious type of DoS attack occurs when an attacker "floods" a network with information.

From what the NO on Prop 8 campaign knows, the DoS attack started yesterday from a small number of individuals. It is believed the attacks, which occurred throughout the night, came from California, Texas, New Jersey and Georgia. The attacks to the site increased from a small number of hosts to dozens. As IP addresses of attackers were blacklisted, new IP addresses emerged and attacked.

The NO on Prop 8 campaign has reported the DoS to the FBI and the Secret Service, which has jurisdiction over such attacks to prevent breaks in the national financial networks.

For more information on NO on Prop 8, please visit www.noonprop8.com.

thanks to the Daily Dish