Serbia launches cyberattack on NATO

NATO's World Wide Web server has been rendered virtually inoperable as a result of a denial of service attack launched by an unknown number of cyberterrorists from an undisclosed location deep within Serbia, NATO officials announced today.

The attack was launched against the NATO headquarters' Web server in Brussels, Belgium, and included a mass e-mail attack that clogged NATO's e-mail server.John Pike, a defense and intelligence analyst with the Federation of American Scientists in Washington, D.C., characterized the attack as a "Ping of death attack from Serbia," and said it had been under way for several days.

Packet Internet Groper, or Ping, is the process by which users determine whether a system is up and running on the Internet. It is used to test and debug a network by sending out a packet of information and waiting for a response.

"This attack was launched against the Web site that has been the primary source of information about what's going on," including transcripts of briefings and bomb damage assessments, Pike said. "This is a textbook example that will be cited from now on as a low-cost, high-value attack."