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back to article Piracy threats lawyer mocks 4chan DDoS attack

ACS:Law, the firm of solicitors being investigated by authorities over thousands of threatening letters to alleged unlawful filesharers, was attacked by net activists linked to 4chan overnight. The firm's website was brought back online at about 10.45am, following a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) strike. It follows …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I suspect

    I suspect this will only fuel anon, expect black page faxes, email bombardment, telephone pranks, and thousands of bibles being delivered.

    All things they've done before. I wouldn't be suprised if they get lots of offers to be audited by scientologists either.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Flame

      agreed

      He has the right idea. e.g. try to ignore it and not make a big fuss of it.

      But im not quite sure he realises that he's pissed them off quite a bit !!

      You say How many pizzas you want delivered !! 102 !!!! and you pay cash right !!!!

      Everybody must post Anon !! for obvious reasons :D

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      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        I wouldn't be the pizza firm involved

        Not only would i not get paid for the pizzas, the lawyers would bill me for wasting their time, take me to court when I couldn't pay and bill me for that too.

        Next stop Pizzeria prop. Sewem, Billim, and Runn

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      2. Daniel Evans
        Reply Icon

        "..try to ignore it..."

        Yeah, but he didn't ignore it. He went out and gave them attention, by saying he was ignoring them. I thought it was only 10 year olds who went and told the world that "I'm ignoring you!"?

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        1. Lionel Baden
          Reply Icon
          Thumb Up

          @ daniel Evans

          good point :)

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    2. Anomalous Cowturd
      Reply Icon
      Flame

      +16 hours, and still down. ROFL

      Open-DNS reports:-

      Hmm, acs-law.org.uk isn't loading right now.The computers that run acs-law.org.uk are having some trouble. Usually this is just a temporary problem, so you might want to try again in a few minutes.

      Want more detail? See which nameservers are failing. Nameserver trace for acs-law.org.uk:

      Looking for who is responsible for root zone and followed e.root-servers.net.

      Looking for who is responsible for uk and followed ns3.nic.uk.

      Looking for who is responsible for acs-law.org.uk and followed ns2.dfsv61.com.

      Nameservers for acs-law.org.uk:

      ns1.dfsv61.com returned (NORECORDS)

      ns2.dfsv61.com returned (NORECORDS)

      I bet he wishes he'd never lit this one!

      How we laughed...

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Moron...

    Not exactly the sharpest crayon in the box is he?

    Ignore 4chan and they "might" go away.

    Mocking them only opens you up to a whole world of pain.

    <shakes head>

    Anon - well I don't want their attention either.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Badgers

      Exactly.

      "Ha! You're shit and didn't hurt us."

      Perfect way to really make sure somebody decides to try harder.

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  3. Squirrel
    Troll

    sounds like he's baiting them

    ...foolish mortal. Never underestimate the brilliance, stupidity and arrogance of a bored teen.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      assumptions..

      I think the dark underbelly of 4chan isn't teenagers, but it is a handy cover to those with resources for targets to believe they have more limited resources than they really do.

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      1. The Other Steve
        Reply Icon
        FAIL

        and ninjas

        also unicorns

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      2. david wilson
        Reply Icon

        @AC 12:53

        >>"it is a handy cover to those with resources for targets to believe they have more limited resources than they really do."

        Surely, either they have done something really meaningful in the past, or they haven't?

        If they have, why would people underestimate them?

        If they haven't, why should people expect them to start now?

        If some people involved with 4chan have done something meaningful in the past that wasn't associated with 4chan, how could 4chan be acting as much of a cover?

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  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    they probably could make his train late

    ..but if they phoned in a bomb threat they'd suddenly be terrorists.

    Perhaps if people engaged with each other a little more then there would be less need for extremists?

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Grenade

      Re: they probably could make his train late

      But if they accidentally left a 'suspicious' bag on the platform then they wouldn't be anything other than forgetful! ;)

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      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        I Envision

        HUNDREDS OF BAGS @ HIS STATION !!!!

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  5. Mike Cardwell

    Hmmm...

    Whilst I agree with his sentiment, provoking 4chan is not a good idea.

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  6. phil mcracken

    this guy is a tad retarded...

    ...coming out with statements like that. I can see him getting singled out for some lulz now.

    man the harpoons and all that

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    1. Grease Monkey Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Subtlety?

      Maybe he's deliberately trying to rile them. MAybe he thinks that of he can rile them into more and larger attacks then maybe some of them will be caught and prosecuted.

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  7. envmod
    Grenade

    dig. grave. own.

    oh please mock 4chan some more mr crossley.... i mean, who the hell do they think they are? these people need to be stopped. i believe you are the man to stop them.

    you're right - 4chan won't do anything serious, it's all childish pranks and minor inconveniences... keep at it mr crossley!

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  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Title

    Mr Crossley best get some curtains and a dog.

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  9. LinkOfHyrule
    Coffee/keyboard

    YES

    This has to be the first news story I ever read where literally the first word made me piss myself laughing!

    Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of MFs.

    This will be fun.

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  10. The Metal Cod

    Not that I condone such behaviour but

    Well, let's be honest, Crossley's had it coming for a while. And I can't say any inconvenience or discomfort he encounters will have me sniffling. This may be the slow start of karma coming back to bite him in the balls.

    Any news on the disciplinary proceedings Crossley is facing?

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  11. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    What anon does

    is very annoying, sometimes costs a fair bit, but is unlikely to cause the company to go down. A Project Myrtus (a.k.a. stuxnet) like attack on the other hand...

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  12. Anonymous Coward
    Pirate

    sdfdg

    The very fact that he said that shows that it DID get his back up. If he didn't care he wouldn't have even made a statement.

    Now he's thrown down the gauntlet and as anyone who's ever had the misfortune to be a part of a flame war will know - when a net gauntlet is thrown the recipients will NOT back down ever. The fact that it's 4chan just makes it even worse.

    Silly man. Let the lul timez roll.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Pirate

      heh

      Someone on the internet is wrong?

      rofl

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  13. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Big whoop?

    *grabs some popcorn and a comfy seat* I for one am patiently awaiting the epic lulz to commence

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  14. Ally J

    In fairness....

    I don't have any sympathy for iffy lawyers, but taking their website down isn't going to do much to 'hurt' them, is it? I can understand the BPI, MIAA and RIAA will hurt a little if their websites go down, but these people will just see it as a triumph: "We are *so* good at rounding up ruffians on the internet that they attack us all the time".

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  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I wonder....

    .... if his webhost takes the same view. I rather suspect they don't.

    Expect your hosting/ISP bills to be increasing rather dramatically ACS:Law as you've just painted a massive target onto your company. Most competent ISPs will still offer you service but your risk factor just went through the roof.

    Couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch really - just more legal parasites contributing sweet fuck all to society.

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    1. jake Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      @John Naismith

      "Most competent ISPs will still offer you service but your risk factor just went through the roof."

      Uh ... no. Competent ISPs aren't affected by skiddies of any stripe.

      Please note that I think both sides in this particular matter are noisy, attention-seeking idiots who should grow up and seek lives outside the gutters of society.

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      1. DrXym
        Reply Icon

        Most competent ISPs?

        DDOS attacks are very difficult to stop since if done in a sophisticated way there is no way to separate genuine traffic from the attack. You might be able to set up intrusion alarms that monitor for unusual activity, you might even be able to auto bounce / reroute the requests into a hole until the attack subsides. In theory it could be done automatically but in practice I expect it is requires a lot of sysadmin time & resources to monitor and control the situation, conference calls and so on.

        A principled ISP might be prepared to take a lot of punishment for a controversial website or an innocent victim, but how many are prepared to take it for a bunch of litigious lawyers. At the end of the day these people have the money and if the attacks continued they should be footing some of the bill. If not, then they should find themselves another ISP.

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        1. jake Silver badge
          Reply Icon

          @DrXym

          "In theory it could be done automatically"

          Not theory. Reality. Running code trumps all.

          "but in practice I expect"

          In practice, I suspect you're not a sysadmin.

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      2. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Get a clue...

        ...and don't comment on things you don't understand Jake. Go do a bit of reading is my advice.

        By the way I haven't heard anyone use the term "Skiddie" in over a decade - it has other connotations anyway in non-US English countries even if it wasn't so last decade ;)

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        1. jake Silver badge
          Reply Icon

          Re: John Naismith

          Please, do point me at the info I must read. I'm sure it's entertaining.

          Pardon me for being so long in the tooth that I use old terminology ... Perhaps I'm growing senile, and no longer remember how TCP/IP works.

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          1. Anonymous Coward
            Reply Icon
            Thumb Down

            @jake

            WTF ... DDOS is a pain in the Ass for ANY ISP and nobody will want to host a company that will invite that sort of attention.

            Seriosuly man go to 4chan or something

            Maybe masturbating might help ???

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            1. jake Silver badge
              Reply Icon

              @AC 00:00

              DDoS and the like are caught at the transit servers. Most users never even notice that there is a problem. The systems I consult for are multi-homed, at major peering points, usually on several continents, and have several tier 1 providers.

              These days, the skiddies are roughly as irritating as when I need to pull a tick off a dog. I look on 'em as school-yard bullies, no more, and no less ... frightening to their peers (perhaps), and certainly idiots to be avoided, but hardly important in the great scheme of things.

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              1. Anonymous Coward
                Reply Icon
                Heart

                bit of an

                axe to grind, Jake?

                You talk about bullies, but how would you describe a law firm whose principle activity is to send threatening letters with bills attached to *alleged* filesharers?

                That aside, I'm all for 4chan.

                So far on this DDOS crusade of theirs, they have racked up a score against the evangelist Tea Party site, the Motion Picture Ass. of America, and the RIAA.

                Now add to that some bullying lawyers, and it almost reminds me of the lone sheriff cleaning up his town, starting with the parasites and drug dealers.

                This is highly entertaining.

                Can't wait for the next episode!

                :D

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                1. david wilson
                  Reply Icon

                  @AC 17:13

                  >>"So far on this DDOS crusade of theirs, they have racked up a score against the evangelist Tea Party site, the Motion Picture Ass. of America, and the RIAA."

                  OK, but what are they actually supposed to have *achieved*?

                  Have the Tea Party lot started re-taking their medication?

                  Have the MPAA/RIAA decided to stop pursuing filesharing?

                  If they haven't actually done anything apart from amusing some fairly small subset of the internet population, is that something really worth taking even a small risk for?

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                  1. Anonymous Coward
                    Reply Icon
                    Anonymous Coward

                    Re: what are they actually supposed to have *achieved*?

                    One would argue that they made a point. Others would mention the money they cost to the target, or the inconvenience (I don't think acs-law is back online yet, and I suspect Mr Crossley will be a tad more cautious with the bragging in the future).

                    But of course any admin worth his salt knows that the DDOS attacks are just smoke and mirrors: hundreds of lowly script-kiddies keeping the admins busy and the logs obsured while a few hackers test the defenses and try to get in without anyone noticing.

                    Most people know that the swarm of fast-shooting SYN-ACK requests are not the real threat. It's relatively easy to fend them off, and if you can't, then just bring the site down for a couple hours, they will go away. You know you failed when your oh-so-secret info get released to world+dog a couple weeks (month?) later.

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                2. jake Silver badge
                  Reply Icon

                  @AC 17:13

                  Uh ... did you not notice where I wrote "Please note that I think both sides in this particular matter are noisy, attention-seeking idiots who should grow up and seek lives outside the gutters of society."?

                  Learn to read for content ... it'll do you a world of good.

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                  1. Anonymous Coward
                    Reply Icon
                    Grenade

                    re: jake

                    "Uh ... did you not notice where I wrote "Please note that I think both sides in this particular matter are noisy, attention-seeking idiots who should grow up and seek lives outside the gutters of society."?

                    Learn to read for content ... it'll do you a world of good."

                    That's why I asked if you had an axe to grind.

                    It would appear that careful comment reading is a two way street.

                    I really hope you don't start every sentance with "uh....." in real life.

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                    1. jake Silver badge
                      Reply Icon

                      I don't grind axes, I sharpen them ...

                      "It would appear that careful comment reading is a two way street."

                      From my perspective, it's a one-way street.

                      "I really hope you don't start every sentance with "uh....." in real life"

                      Nope. Only when I'm astounded by cluelessness. Takes my breath away, occasionally.

                      (Side note: That's splelled "sentence". HTH, HAND.)

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                      1. Anonymous Coward
                        Reply Icon
                        Flame

                        so

                        if i keep replying to this thread, you'll keep posting super awesome bitchy on-liners?

                        wow.

                        what exactly am i meant to be clueless about?

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                      2. Anonymous Coward
                        Reply Icon
                        Paris Hilton

                        also

                        one*

                        grinding is how one would put an edge on an axe.

                        besides, its a metaphor. in this case a metaphor that represents you seemingly having nothing of value to add to the conversation and yet still throwing in useless replies to other's comments in order to have your grudge aired.

                        and now you've gone and started an interweb argument with me.

                        you see, we are similar in one way - we both like the last word.

                        shall we see who can get the last word before the moderatrix grows tired of this exchange and stops accepting posts for this thread?

                        paris because she probably doesn't have anything to do either.

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                        1. jake Silver badge
                          Reply Icon

                          Grinding & sharpening are two different things.

                          Uh ... did you not notice where I wrote "Please note that I think both sides in this particular matter are noisy, attention-seeking idiots who should grow up and seek lives outside the gutters of society."?[1]

                          Learn to read for content ... it'll do you a world of good.[2]

                          [1] That would be an example of grinding.

                          [2] That would be attempting to teach sharpening.

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                          1. Anonymous Coward
                            Reply Icon
                            Grenade

                            Uh....

                            You've got an unclosed double quote there.

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          2. ElReg!comments!Pierre
            Reply Icon

            Morón airfield, pilot jake requesting permission to land

            (Sorry for the somewhat offensive title, I've been waiting for this one since I read about the Morón airfield on El Reg!)

            Anyway, you do realize how much that traffic must annoy the hosting provider -if not the ISP-, right?

            What he did was akin to putting up a big "I'm a vacation, don't bother stealing my fancy furniture, jewellery, home cinema system and 3 macbook pros since It won't bother me at all" sign on his house. If you do that and get robbed, your insurance company will probably charge you through the nose. Same here. Except that it¯not even HIS house, nor his furniture.

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  16. Jimmy 1

    Scales of justice.

    Ambulance-chasing lawyer being investigated by his professional body for unethical behaviour issues threatening letters to file-sharers and fails to follow through with court action. Sounds like more like an extortion racket. Forget the ethics committee - it's time to call in the boys in blue.

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  17. Anonymous Coward
    Pirate

    Normally, I wouldn't approve of this sort of thing from 4chan

    However, this guy is a parasite upon the intestines of humanity, and IMHO, quite deserves to be 'flushed'.

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  18. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Well...

    He knows he's legally in the right and to a certain extent I can actually sympathise with him, why feel bullied by a bunch of ne'r-do-wells, but it's a taste of ACS's own medicine, for picking on old grannies and kids who've done nothing wrong, so stuff 'em!

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  19. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Hah

    Yeah, that's a great idea - call a network of highly motivated activists on their threat, mock them. This will end well for you ACS:Law.

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