Huge hack “ugly sign of future” for internet threats
24 March 2014

Hackers used weaknesses in the Network Time Protocol (NTP) to flood servers with huge amounts of data. The NTP is a system used to synchronise computer clocks. A computer needing to synchronise time with the NTP will send a small amount of data to make the request. The NTP will then reply by sending data back. The hackers manipulated this system to flood their targets with data.
Discussion starters
- Characteristics of technological outcomes: Use this and other examples to explain how technological outcomes have been successfully used by end-users for purposes other than what they were originally designed for. (level 4)
- Characteristics of technology: Use this and other examples to evaluate past technological outcomes in the light of experiences subsequent to their development and/or contemporary understandings. (level 6)
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