Thousands of websites hosted by Islandnet were flooded to the point of collapse last week to compel the Langford web hosting company to shut down a clientB次元官网网址檚 blog page.

Problems began the evening of May 9 when Islandnet servers were knocked offline by what appeared to be too many users trying to access its sites at once, but was in fact a relatively sophisticated B次元官网网址渄istributed denial of serviceB次元官网网址� attack.

The hacker infected a remote network computers with a virus and directed the machines to hit websites on Islandnet servers with data requests until the servers were overwhelmed and bogged down.

A similar style attack was used last December to crash the WikiLeaks website, and websites owned by several major credit card companies.

Islandnet owner Mark Morley was shocked to learn the same methods were being used against his comparatively small business.

B次元官网网址淚 couldnB次元官网网址檛 understand why theyB次元官网网址檇 be going after us,B次元官网网址� Morley said.

Attacks intensified each day. On Tuesday the servers, and sites that depend on them, were slow and dropped offline periodically. By Wednesday evening theyB次元官网网址檇 crashed completely.

Morley was up all night at his Goldstream Avenue office, staying awake on coffee and soft drinks, trying to defend against unyielding attacks.

B次元官网网址淚t was like playing Whac-a-Mole for a while, every time we blocked one (attack), another would pop up,B次元官网网址� Morley said.

Finally, on Thursday morning, Morley received an anonymous email from someone claiming responsibility for the attacks. The writer said the attacks would continue until Islandnet agreed to shut down a particular blog written by a Vancouver man detailing his custody battle. Morley wouldnB次元官网网址檛 reveal the name of the blog, but said it included some anti-female rants and negative comments towards judges and lawyers.

B次元官网网址淲e believe in freedom of speech, but ultimately we did decide to take the site down,B次元官网网址� Morley said. B次元官网网址淚 didnB次元官网网址檛 feel good about it, but we couldnB次元官网网址檛 sacrifice service to thousands of websites to stand up for one customer.B次元官网网址�

When the blog was removed, the attacks stopped and the hacker sent a polite email to Morley thanking him for his co-operation.

B次元官网网址淎fter being awake for 48 hours, I had to chuckle at that,B次元官网网址� Morley said. B次元官网网址淥ur company was held hostage by a polite terrorist.B次元官网网址�

In nearly two decades of business, it was IslandnetB次元官网网址檚 first time being struck by this type of attack, but itB次元官网网址檚 not the first time Morley has dealt with somebody wanting a site shut down.

B次元官网网址淧eople threaten legal action occasionally,B次元官网网址� Morley said. B次元官网网址淚 tell them I wonB次元官网网址檛 take the site down without a court order, and usually they give up.B次元官网网址�

Kris Constable, a computer privacy consult and director of the Victoria-based PrivaSecTech, said anyone who can use a Google search could download software to carry out a denial of service attack to temporarily block access to a website, but controlling a network of computers for a prolonged distributed attack takes skill.

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 surprising somebody with the sophistication to do that would bother going after someone as small as Islandnet,B次元官网网址� he said, noting itB次元官网网址檚 possible someone hired a hacker for the job.

Longtime Islandnet user Colin Newell hosts his blog CoffeeCrew and a dozen other websites with the company. He was initially put off by his service provider giving a fellow blogger the boot.

B次元官网网址淚t could have just as easily been my blog causing the attack,B次元官网网址� Newell said, noting he occasionally posts his opinions about domestic and foreign politics. B次元官网网址淚 wouldnB次元官网网址檛 have wanted my blog taken down like that.B次元官网网址�

However he said he isnB次元官网网址檛 going to change his service provider over it. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 a business decision. IB次元官网网址檓 sure it wasnB次元官网网址檛 an easy choice to make,B次元官网网址� Newell said.

Islandnet hosts more than 5,000 websites, including many popular local sites such as Thrifty Foods, the Belfry Theatre and Bolen Books. Cumulatively its sites are accessed by more than 10 million users per day.

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 pretty significant to have all those sites down, even for a short time,B次元官网网址� Morley said. B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檝e asked the RCMP to investigate this and try to find the person behind it.B次元官网网址�

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