Scholar
•
140 Messages
Can't get to specific Web sites (wasn't a problem in the past)
I can get to any Web site except those hosted by 000webhost.com (xxx.site11.com). I have 3 sites that are hosted free by that company but I cannot get to them directly using my browser (IE8) as they time out. However, I can access them using a proxy service. This seems to me to be an issue with the sites being blocked by ATT. Does anyone have any suggestions? I don't want to have to use proxy services as they are slow.
PS I also have the same issue with my FTP client which prevents me from updating the sites.
Accepted Solution
Official Solution
SomeJoe7777
Expert
•
9.4K Messages
11 years ago
Be aware that for the past 3-4 weeks, there has been a large increase in the amount of coordinated DDOS attacks on various US websites, particularly banking websites.
These recent DDOS attacks are different than the garden-variety ones we've seen in the past, because instead of using botnets of compromised end-user machines, these attacks are using botnets of compromised web servers. Because the web servers have a pipe to the internet of typically 100Mbps or more, the resulting DDOS traffic against the bank's servers is huge -- on the order of 50 Gbps.
What I believe may be going on behind the scenes is that AT&T is attempting to help the authorities with these attacks by blocking traffic from any compromised web servers. This is why we've seen at least 3-4 people in the past few weeks post here that their web site has suddenly become inaccessible, and in all cases it's been a hosted web server. I believe AT&T is being notified during these DDOS attacks of what web servers are being used, and AT&T blocks the server (or the entire associated subnet) so that the DDOS traffic is cut off. Of course, the side effect of blocking the compromised web server is that any legitimate sites hosted on that server or on that subnet become inaccessible for AT&T customers.
See the following article over at NBCNews.com for a deeper explanation:
http://redtape.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/22/14624198-why-your-banks-website-might-go-down-soon-and-why-hackers-seem-unstoppable?lite
0
JefferMC
ACE - Expert
•
35K Messages
11 years ago
There are two explanations that I can forward for this:
1) AT&T has deliberately blocked traffic to the IP address on which the sites you're trying to get to are hosted due to a malware or similar site being hosted on that same IP. The solution for this is to get the hoster to get the block cleared or to move the adversely affected sites off that IP.
2) AT&T sometimes has transient routing problems. With billions of IP addresses, it's not surprising that routing to some of them gets screwed up now and then.
You can try calling AT&T Technical Support at 800-288-2020 and reporting your problem. Maybe if you can get to Tier 2 they will be able to help you. Refuse ConnecTech.
0
0