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What’s In a Denial-of-Service Attack? This Week’s ‘Cyber Vandalism’ at US Airports Could Signal the Next Step In Russia’s War
Steve Huff
Steve Huff is an Editor and Reporter at dot.LA. Steve was previously managing editor for The Metaverse Post and before that deputy digital editor for Maxim magazine. He has written for Inside Hook, Observer and New York Mag. Steve is the author of two official tie-ins books for AMC’s hit “Breaking Bad” prequel, “Better Call Saul.” He’s also a classically-trained tenor and has performed with opera companies and orchestras all over the Eastern U.S. He lives in the greater Boston metro area with his wife, educator Dr. Dana Huff.
Monday's attacks on U.S. airports, including Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), were—on the surface—a nuisance, but experts say they could signal trouble ahead.
Russian cybercrime gang Killnet claimed the attacks on more than a dozen American airport websites, including Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), and Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD) along with LAX. The group listed its targets on its Telegram channel. For a time, the Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks—in which websites are flooded with “junk” traffic, overwhelming servers—either slowed or took the airports’ public sites offline completely, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Still, Infosecurity Magazine reported that the attacks had “no direct impact on airport operations.”
An attack like this wasn’t exactly unexpected. Multiple federal agencies authored an April 2022 cybersecurity advisory warning that the February Russian invasion of Ukraine might “expose organizations both within and beyond the region to increased malicious cyber activity.” It mentioned DDoS attacks and named multiple known cybercrime gangs, including colorfully named groups such as Salty Spider, Fancy Bear, and Killnet, which took down Connecticut’s Bradley International Airport in March.
Infosecurity Magazine’s story also noted that early press coverage about the April advisory was criticized for raising alarms about what some security experts wrote off as essentially “kids” making digital mischief.
But denial-of-service attacks aren’t simply cyber vandalism, said Bryan Hornung, CEO and founder of Philadelphia-based Xact IT Solutions.
“We usually see three types of DDoS attacks,” he said, “One, where they create a nuisance to let you know what they are capable of. Two, where they use DDoS to mask a more severe type of attack. Three, where they hold the network traffic hostage and demand a ransom to stop the DDoS attack.”
“In these cases,” Hornung continued, “there are plenty of other ways to stop the attack, so cyber criminals do not typically succeed with extortion regarding DDoS.”
Cybersecurity firm Tanium’s Director of Security Research Melissa Bischoping agreed that the attacks should be taken seriously. “The concept of a denial of service may seem inconvenient and annoying,” she told dot.LA, “but DDoS attacks can be used to take critical systems—or revenue-generating systems—offline, impacting your organization’s bottom line.”
Bischoping and Hornung agreed that these types of attacks could be used for pure disruption and nothing more. Still, Hornung said that often “we see DDoS attacks happening to divert the attention of technical people, so a different, more severe attack can be deployed.”
“How they are used depends on the attacker’s skill level, motivation, and the level of access they have obtained in the environment,” said Bischoping.
Any time there’s a chance for “increased economic disruption, social unrest and political uncertainty, cyber attacks also tend to increase,” Bischoping added.
“This can be due to ‘hacktivism,’” she continued, “nation-state efforts, or criminal activity for economic gain.” In addition, she said we should expect “all future military conflicts to have some cyber element to them, including the current ones.” For that reason, she said, it’s crucial to remain vigilant.
Asked if Russian losses in Ukraine will likely lead to more cyber attacks, Hornung replied, “The cyber war will intensify regardless of what happens in Ukraine.”
He also wasn’t ready to dismiss DDoSing as the work of independent groups acting alone.
“No cyber criminal activity in Russia happens without approval from Moscow,” Hornung said.
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Steve Huff
Steve Huff is an Editor and Reporter at dot.LA. Steve was previously managing editor for The Metaverse Post and before that deputy digital editor for Maxim magazine. He has written for Inside Hook, Observer and New York Mag. Steve is the author of two official tie-ins books for AMC’s hit “Breaking Bad” prequel, “Better Call Saul.” He’s also a classically-trained tenor and has performed with opera companies and orchestras all over the Eastern U.S. He lives in the greater Boston metro area with his wife, educator Dr. Dana Huff.
steve@dot.la
CrowdStrike CEO Says He Regrets Not Firing People Quicker
03:10 PM | March 04, 2020
Ben Bergman/dot.LA
George Kurtz, co-founder and CEO of the cloud-native endpoint security platform CrowdStrike, says executives should be obsessed with culture. Everyone below him must be fanatical about customer success and outcome and if they aren't fitting in, they need to go quickly. It's one of the biggest lessons he's learned as CEO.
"Not one time have I regretted firing someone too fast," Kurtz told a lunchtime crowd at the first day of the Montgomery Summit in Santa Monica. "It's that I waited too long."
Kurtz founded the company in Sunnyvale, CA, in 2011 and it went public last year. He was joined on a panel by John Chambers, the former executive chairman and CEO of Cisco Systems, who said he bought 180 companies during his tenure. But he did not acquire a company that was not a very close cultural fit.
"I walked on one of the bigger acquisitions we were going to do," Chambers said. "Culture is as important as strategy and vision and I did not understand that when I was a young CEO."
Chambers said he was proud of Cisco's 95% employee retention rate when he was CEO, which is well above the industry average. He oversaw a rigorous hiring process to make sure candidates were right.
"If you're not interviewing through 10 people, you're not doing the screening process properly," Chambers said.
If an executive wanted to jump to a competitor, he would try to find out what was at the root of someone's unhappiness. The number one factor: Dissatisfaction with their immediate supervisor.
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Ben Bergman
Ben Bergman is the newsroom's senior finance reporter. Previously he was a senior business reporter and host at KPCC, a senior producer at Gimlet Media, a producer at NPR's Morning Edition, and produced two investigative documentaries for KCET. He has been a frequent on-air contributor to business coverage on NPR and Marketplace and has written for The New York Times and Columbia Journalism Review. Ben was a 2017-2018 Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Economic and Business Journalism at Columbia Business School. In his free time, he enjoys skiing, playing poker, and cheering on The Seattle Seahawks.
https://twitter.com/thebenbergman
ben@dot.la
LA’s Upgrade in Travel and NBA Viewing
08:41 AM | July 26, 2024
Image Source: Los Angeles World Airports
🔦 Spotlight
Exciting developments are underway for Los Angeles as the city prepares for major upgrades in both travel and entertainment. The Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners has approved an additional $400 million for the Automated People Mover (APM) at LAX, increasing its total budget to $3.34 billion. This boost ensures the elevated train’s completion by December 8, 2025, with service starting in January 2026. For Angelenos, this means a significant improvement in travel convenience. The APM will streamline connections between parking, rental car facilities, and the new Metro transit station, drastically cutting traffic congestion around the airport. Imagine a future without the dreaded 30-minute traffic delays at LAX! The APM will operate 24/7, reducing airport traffic by 42 million vehicle miles annually and carrying 30 million passengers each year, while also creating thousands of local jobs and supporting small businesses.
Meanwhile, the NBA is also making waves with its new broadcasting deals. The league has signed multi-year agreements with ESPN, NBC, and Amazon Prime Video, marking a notable shift in media partnerships. ESPN will maintain its long-standing role, NBC returns as a network broadcaster after years away, and Amazon Prime Video will provide NBA games through its streaming platform. Starting with the 2025-2026 season, these deals will enhance the league's reach and revenue, aligning with the NBA's goal to expand its audience and adapt to evolving viewing habits. Whether you're catching the action on TV or streaming online, these changes promise to elevate the fan experience and bring more basketball excitement to Los Angeles.
🤝 Venture Deals
LA Companies
- Pearl, a startup that makes AI-powered software that assists dentists in identifying cavities, gum disease, and other dental conditions, raised a $58M Series B funding led by Left Lane Capital with Smash Capital, and others also participating. - learn more
LA Venture Funds
- Fulcrum Venture Group participated in a prior $3.5M Pre-Seed Round for Code Metal, a developer tools startup. - learn more
- B Capital co-led a $12.5M Seed Round for Star Catcher, a startup that aims to develop a space-based grid that captures solar energy in space and distributes it to satellites and other space assets. - learn more
- Mantis VC and Amplify participated in a $140M Series C for Chainguard, an open source security startup. - learn more
- Prominent LA venture capitalist, Carter Reum and wife, Paris Hilton, participated in a $14M Seed/Series A for W, the men’s personal care brand from Jake Paul. - learn more
LA Exits
- Warner Bros. Games acquired Player First Games, developer of the recently launched MultiVersus free-to-play platform fighter videogame. - learn more
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