Entire country got hacked by bloggers?!!

By raheem

I am in a “New York Post” sort of mood – and hence the headline. Check out this great article from Computerworld.com – about lessons learned when tiny but broadband-loaded Estonia got hacked earlier this year for moving a statue of a Russian soldier to a less honorable spot.

That incident lead to the whole country getting hacked in a big way – massive DOS attacks crippled major online infrastructure. This especially hurt Estonians, since they are webophiles who conduct a lot of their daily tasks online (like vote, pay taxes, get paid, get medical checkups, etc). For two days, it was online mayhem. At first they thought the Russian government was behind it, but apparently not!

On the contrary, the attack was orchestrated/aided/assisted by groups of Russian bloggers who posted instructions on implementing the attacks and even provided updated hacks in response to Estonian attempts to defend themselves! So Bloggers can cripple a country? Now that’s power! But here is the crazy thing – “there is no evidence to explain who was responsible.” They are calling this phenomenon, (BUZZWATCH) — ONLINE RIOTING! Its a brave new world! One more example of how the internet is changing the game – you can fight a country without firing a single bullet! Think about that. On the one hand – its more power to the individual, but its also more power to the crazies out there!