[geeks] Using a mailing list for a DDOS attack

[Shannon Hendrix]

On Nov 26, 2007, at 7:31 AM, Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:

> On Mon, Nov 26, 2007 at 10:49:38AM +0100, Joost van de Griek wrote:
>> I doubt this works outside the EU, unless your service provider  
>> linked 112 to
>> the local emergency number. 112 is the standard European emergency  
>> number. You
>> can indeed dial it from any cell phone, blocked or not, even  
>> without a SIM
>> card. While the "try it, it doesn't cost anything" suggestion in  
>> the original
>> message is certainly dumb (and actually trying it is an offence  
>> when there
>> isn't an emergency), I fail to see how this would in be "terrorist
>> motivated".
>
> It's any easy way to prevent emergency calls from being answered.  
> The mailing
> list it was posted to has over 13,000 readers in a small  
> geographical area.
> If 1 in 10 called, just to try it, there would be almost no chance of
> a real emergency call reaching the call center.

If 1300 calls to 112 causes a problem, it seems to me that something  
is wrong with their emergency call system.

Is it really that easy to overload?

-- 
Shannon Hendrix
shannon at widomaker.com