Networks Could Launch Huge Denial of Service Attacks At least five large networks of compromised machines that could be used to launch massive denial of service attacks. The machines have had bots placed on them; the bots establish communication with Internet Relay Chat (IRC) servers to receive commands. http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,935790,00.asp [Editor's Note (Paller): These networks have up to 140,000 systems each. Compare that to the 230 (not 230 thousand) machines needed to take down an Internet II site, 330 to take down a major US Intelligence site, and you get an idea how much power is in these networks. They are more than sufficient to cause widespread outages. Many of these systems have been compromised by persuading the users to download a game or picture or other file that must be executed. The games and pictures are real, but they contain the malicious software as an extra surprise.] -- Fred A. Miller Systems Administrator Cornell Univ. Press Services fm@cupserv.org, www.cupserv.org