Cyberattacks this week by supporters of Wikileaks on the home sites of Visa and MasterCard may have been designed to grab headlines rather than actually disrupt the companies’ financial operations. The wave of electronic assaults, referred to as “Operation Payback” by the activists mounting the attacks, were aimed at the home sites of the credit card companies. Those sites have high profiles but relatively low traffic levels — traffic levels that make them more vulnerable to a distributed denial of service attack.
I would say that it is obvious that their intention was not to disrupt the core process or affect the financial security of many people. If that was the case, they would have targeted them. I believe their main objective (which they accomplish) was to perform an act of protest at those companies virtual entrances. A protest, that's it. And they managed to get the media attention that they were looking for.
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Pro-Wikileaks Attacks More Slap in the Face than Kick in the Head
Posted by: John P. Mello Jr. December 9, 2010 10:13 AMCyberattacks this week by supporters of Wikileaks on the home sites of Visa and MasterCard may have been designed to grab headlines rather than actually disrupt the companies’ financial operations. The wave of electronic assaults, referred to as “Operation Payback” by the activists mounting the attacks, were aimed at the home sites of the credit card companies. Those sites have high profiles but relatively low traffic levels — traffic levels that make them more vulnerable to a distributed denial of service attack.