Internet Attack Targets DoubleClick

Found on Securityfocus on Tuesday, 27 July 2004
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DoubleClick Inc., the company that provides online advertising services for some of the nation's most popular Web sites, was the target of a sophisticated
attack today, the third time in two months that hackers have targeted a major player in the commercial Internet.

Among the sites hardest hit were those of Nortel Networks, Gateway Inc., MCI Inc., CNN.com and Schwab.com, according to Keynote. washingtonpost.com also was
loading slowly for several hours earlier today before the company blocked DoubleClick's ads from running on the site.

The attack on DoubleClick is another sign that attackers are beginning to target key Internet pressure points that -- when squeezed -- darken the Internet
for most users, said Johannes Ullrich, chief technology officer for the SANS Institute's Internet Storm Center.

That's something I rarely would have noticed. My proxy is configured to filter out all links to Doubleclick, which cuts down annoying ads. In my opinion, it's not bad to have big advertisers like them, because this makes it much easier to block ads.