GoDaddy Hacked, This Website Crashed!
A quick video of the warning…
Anonymous member claims responsibility for an attack that has crippled one of the world’s largest website hosts.
by Dan Crabtree
September 10, 2012
Millions of websites hosted by GoDaddy (including godaddy.com and godaddy hosted emails) went down today from 2pm EST to around 7pm EST due to a DNS service outage, which one alleged Anonymous leader is claiming as his handiwork.
Technically, three of GoDaddy’s DNS (Domain Name System) servers failed to resolve as a result of the hack, which Twitter user @anonymousown3r has called his doing. Shortly after GoDaddy sites started dropping by the hundreds of thousands, he tweeted, “#tangodown godaddy.com by @anonymousown3r.” Businesses all over the world struggled to recover their online presence during the five hour outage.
For the vast majority of clients hosting with GoDaddy, the DNS issue wasn’t fixable because GoDaddy holds all the MX records for these sites, and users usually have to log into the GoDaddy site in order to switch DNS providers. While the site was down, millions of site owners had to sit on their hands and wait for the GoDaddy techs to eventually get those servers back online and functioning.
On the GoDaddy site during the outage sat an apologetic message from Scott Wagner, GoDaddy’s CEO, and, of course, a picture of NASCAR Driver Danica Patrick staring into your soul.
The site’s Twitter account promised that the company was “working feverishly to resolve as soon as possible” for several hours prior to many of the sites coming back online. Around 7:30 EST, the site’s Twitter said, “We’re still working. Getting closer to normal. Thanks for all your patience and understanding.”
AnonymousOwn3r purportedly perpetrated the attack on his own, responding to the TechCrunch article on the matter saying, “the attack is not from Anonymous [collective], the attack it’s coming only from me”.
Not much is known about this attacker, but his Portuguese past actions are localized in Brazil. His hacks, also labeled #tangodown on Twitter, have taken down plenty of sites before – sites hosting child pornography, Swedish travel interest, and other domains known to support restrictions to online privacy. This is his largest hack to date.
Last December, Anonymous sent out a message through YouTube to GoDaddy warning it to stop supporting the Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA), which the company did shortly thereafter. AnonymousOwn3r claims that the attack against GoDaddy is not because he is “anti-GoDaddy”, but that his motives will become apparent in time.
At the time of writing, users are able to get onto the GoDaddy site and log in to view or change any account settings. With this unexpected, surprising attack, many of the domain administrators affected today may be rethinking their DNS provider.
Dan Crabtree is an I.T. guy and freelance writer with words on IGN, and a league of other gaming news outlets. His dog is considered handsome and well-read. You can find him (the human) on Twitter and IGN.
by Dan Crabtree
