Cyber attack disrupts access to Rutgers University network
A cyber attack on the Rutgers University computer network interrupted service for much of the weekend.
NBC 4 New York reports the cyber attack originated in China and Ukraine and that the FBI is involved in the investigation.
In an email to students, Don Smith, Rutgers Vice President for Information for the school's Office of Information Technology said a "distributed denial" of service" disrupted access for off-campus users. But the email said Rutgers has not detected any "breach of confidential information."
Townsquare Media New Jersey technology expert Dave Loudon said a distributed denial of service or "DDOS" takes advantage of the fact that a website has a limited number of "slots" for simultaneous access by users.
"It takes a finite amount of time to set one of those connections up and for it to become freed up again when it is no longer used," says Loudon. "In the case of a DDOS, multiple computers at multiple locations all try to make as many session requests as they can as quickly as they can. The connections are abandoned quickly but the slot stays reserved for some time meaning no one else can use it."
The slowdown started on Friday afternoon when the OIT sent out another email warning they were running security scans.
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