Hear Alfredo Lopez on RFK's "Saturday High Noon" August 1, 2015.
The entire May First/People Link server system was attacked today in what appears to be an expansion of yesterday's attacks on the Fund Abortion Now website. The Denial of Service attack focused on May First's DNS (Domain Name Service) servers, crippling virtually all its 850 members' websites and services.
It was the largest attack on May First in the organization's history.
Today's attack, which lasted over 12 hours, follows yesterday's similar but more specific attack on the Fund Abortion Now website and other pro-choice websites. MF/PL technologists worked to thwart the attack and bring all systems back on line at about 2:00 pm today.
DOS attacks make repeated attempts to connect with a service or a website at such a rapid pace that the service or site overloads and shuts down. The DNS servers hold and distribute the information necessary for someone to reach a site or send email. If the DNS servers are shut down, no one can use basic web and email services.
That makes attacks against DNS servers among the most serious and aggressive Internet attacks conceivable: they affect so many people.
"We never know whether attacks like these are connected," May First/People Link Leadership Committee member Alfredo Lopez said. "But the closeness in time between the attack on Fund Abortion Now and this more general attack leads us to believe they are linked. In a sense, it doesn't matter. We exist to provide progressive organizations and people the right to communicate openly, freely and securely. We will actively resist any attempt to curtail our members' communications."
May First technologists returned the system to normal functioning at about 2:00 pm today and no further disruption has been reported. May First continues to monitor systems for any problems.
May First/People Link is a membership organization specializing in Internet work with members world-wide, primiarily in the United States and Mexico. It is among the largest politically progressive Internet organizations in the world.
https://mayfirst.org info@mayfirst.org
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