Web War Heats Up Between Forces of Good and Evil

In the battle to become Masters of the Web Universe, there are good guys and bad guys. Those who might be considered He-Man-heroes are web sites like CastleCops.com, which offer help to online users who have been hit by irritating malware. On the other end, there's Skeletor's black hat baddies, who are right now doing everything in their power to take CastleCops and others right off the web. (Source: theinquirer.net)

The strategy of malware goons is to execute what's called a "distributed denial of service," where black hat malcontents attempt to shut down a site by hitting it with a massive supply of garbage data. It can eventually overload a site, sending it offline.

The battle has been going on since August 29, when the initial wave of data successfully shut down CastleCops for hours. Paul Laudankski, founder of the site, desperately brought in a slew of countermeasures to help stabilize the page and resurrect its abilities. Although CastleCops was indeed revived, the malware mobsters moved on to other hits, including 419eater.com, scamfraudalert.com, and fraudwatchers.org, all sites designed to help prevent hacker hijinx.

Laudanski, as you might expect, is livid. "It's the folks who are out there in the trenches getting hit". The barrage caused the hosting provider for one similar site, aa491.com, to drop its client. CastleCops, good guys they are, gave the unlucky and abandoned site a home. (Source: pcworld.com)

Although this kind of thing has happened before, analysts believe the frequency of such attacks are on the rise. According to the CTO of Prolexic, a company that defends against these types of infestation, "the prevailing street theory is that these guys are having an effect."

For Laudanski, it's a matter of good versus evil, a notion that will keep his site fighting on. "The criminals are in it for the money...we're in it for the feeling that we get being on the side of right." Adding to that, Laudanski says, "It gives us greater resolve."

Godspeed, brother.