Anonymous denounces internet DNS attack

HACKING COLLECTIVE Anonymous is not behind a threat to attack main root servers in an attempt to knock the internet offline.

Reports about the potential attack have been bubbling for some time now and suggest that the assault on servers, particularly the 13 root name servers, will happen on 31 March.

Anonymous has denied that it is behind the attack and the messages that support it. They are written and presented in the Anonymous style, but that does not mean that they are legitimate. They suggest that Anonymous will attack as part of anti-SOPA and other protests.

"On March 31, anonymous will shut the Internet down. In order to shut the Internet down, one thing is to be done. Down the 13 root DNS servers of the Internet," says the Pastebin released document that includes the already publicly available addresses of the root name servers.

"By cutting these off the Internet, nobody will be able to perform a domain name lookup, thus, disabling the HTTP Internet, which is, after all, the most widely used function of the Web. Remember, this is a protest, we are not trying to 'kill' the Internet, we are only temporarily shutting it down where it hurts the most."

Anonymous has distanced itself from the release, however, and some of its main commentors have used Twitter to denounce it in front of their supporters.

"GlobalBlackOut is another Fake Operation. No intention of #Anonymous to cut Internet," says a message from the @Anonops Twitter account. "Just a message to our followers, this news team does not support OpBlackOut and that everyone should stay away from it. Thank you," adds another from an account called @AnonDDOS. µ