Alabama state government websites have recently experienced a hiccup in the form of a denial-of-service (DoS) attack. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) defines this type of attack as when legitimate users are unable to access information systems due to the actions of a malicious cyber threat actor. Essentially, the attack floods a site with junk data to overwhelm it and knock it offline.
The CISA explains that a DoS attack is carried out by flooding the targeted host or network with traffic until it cannot respond, causing a denial-of-service condition. This can be costly for organizations as their resources and services become inaccessible.
Governor Kay Ivey’s office confirmed the attack began on March 12 but assured that there was no breach and the state’s computers and information remained secure. The state’s Office of Information Technology is actively working to mitigate the attack, although some state websites may experience temporary slowdowns during this process.
Different methods for carrying out a DoS attack include the Smurf Attack, where the attacker sends spoofed packets to flood the target host, and the YN flood, which saturates all open ports to prevent legitimate users from connecting.
For more information on denial-of-service attacks, visit the CISA website.