Spamhaus attacks expose huge open DNS server dangers

Massive distributed denial of service attacks on Spamhaus this week focused widespread attention on the huge security threats posed by millions of poorly configured Internet Domain Name System (DNS) servers.

The attacks on Spamhaus that began March 19 were apparently launched by a group opposed to the Geneva, Switzerland-based volunteer organization's antispam work.

Several security firms described the attacks on the organization as the largest -- by far -- ever publicly known DDoS attacks to date. In DDoS attacks, hackers typically try to take down a network by directing huge volumes of useless traffic to it. The traffic is usually generated using large botnets of compromised computers.