The BBC is reporting that Burma (also known as Myanmar) has been hit by a massive distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) cyberattack that has effectively disconnected the country from the Internet. The BBC cites the IT security firm Arbor Networks as its source.
Arbor Networks says that the attacks coming from across the world began on the 25th of October and have been increasing since then. The firm says that the DDoS attacks have overloaded the country's Internet connections - both cable and satellite - by several hundred times their capacity at its peak.
Arbor Networks also says that the attack integrated several different types of DoS attacks coming from several different countries apparently using botnets.
No one has claimed credit for the attack, but there is speculation that it is associated with Burma's national elections on the 7th of November.
Arbor Networks also said that the attack traffic volume was larger than that which hit Georgia in 2008 or Estonia in 2007.
Robert N. Charette is a Contributing Editor to IEEE Spectrum and an acknowledged international authority on information technology and systems risk management. A self-described “risk ecologist,” he is interested in the intersections of business, political, technological, and societal risks. Charette is an award-winning author of multiple books and numerous articles on the subjects of risk management, project and program management, innovation, and entrepreneurship. A Life Senior Member of the IEEE, Charette was a recipient of the IEEE Computer Society’s Golden Core Award in 2008.