Cyber attacks are some of the most dangerous forms of data piracy everyone should be worried about. Social media giants including Twitter and Facebook are some of the platforms which have tasted the feeling of being under a cyber attack. But then, no one is safe since the latest attack on Github may affect any future open source apps and software used globally.
Most websites suffer from denial of service attacks though majority sympathize with the attackers. Given the rate of smartphone and computer usage today. Many attacks have popped in as attackers target your precious data. just like the 2017 bad ransomware was aimed at soliciting bitcoins from victims. The latest DDOS attack on Github may expose your open source software and apps to backdoors that can be used to take you down.
What are DDOS attacks?
Distributed denial of service attacks are a series of online attacks initiated by the so-called black hat hackers. Being a complicated form of attack, many users may not know what the attack is actually capable of. Though IT experts and software engineers spend sleepless nights debugging and developing new apps and software updates. A single DDOS attack can destroy or even alter all information hosted by the attacked victim.
A DDOS attack acts in a way that, a hacker initiates series of code and pings a given server in order to disrupt access by other users. But then, public websites and software companies are always vulnerable to these attacks.Although with the strict firewall rules installed and policies by websites, protection of users and apps has become a rhythm to listen to.
About Github’s DDoS attack
However with the largest and latest DDoS on Github which is more of an open source web-based hosting service where developers can access given software and apps. Your app updates could be vulnerable to any injected code distributed on the website. Just like many 3rd party websites provide you with free software links and app updates. The attack on Github may open backdoors in your software or apps where hackers can actually tap into your personal or private information.
Github is that one open source hosting website where a majority of the free apps and software have a part of their files stored. Results from the recent DDOS attack may not be sighted as per now but regrettable in the future as attackers may opt to alter apps and software to their own tune.
A few years ago, the Linux community which is the biggest open source innovation suffered similar proceedings that may result from this Github attack. Linux mint which is one of the most used open operating systems 2nd to Ubuntu was attacked to the extent that everyone who downloaded the new updated system image would have their information phished.
How the attack happened
According to Github, the Chinese government is believed to have been behind the 2015 attack that lasted for 5 days. Differing from the most recent attack that lasted for less than 10mins. The Open source application hosting platform claims attackers used its mem caching system to take down the website.
While many users may find the attacks complicated, the DDOS attack on Github ca easily expose any user’s private information just in case a few open source codes were tampered with. Therefore, as the site fully recovered from the incident it’s never too late to spend on store upgrades as to stay secure with open source software and apps.