Yesterday at 5:30pm, access to the Georgetown University network services was halted due to a "Denial of Service" (DoS) attack. This attack resulted in reports of network slowness, and caused e-mail and internet access to be temporarily halted.
The attack originated from a computer in California that targeted a computer at Georgetown.
UIS engineers worked with Cogent, Georgetown’s Internet service provider (ISP), to resolve the problem. All services were restored at 8:58pm.
A DoS attack is a type of attack on a network that is designed to bring the network down by flooding it with useless traffic. The flood of incoming messages to the target network essentially forces the network to shut down and "deny service" to users of that network. A DoS attack is analogous to a mail delivery person being unable to deliver mail as a result of being flooded with mail, thus preventing the mail delivery person from delivering legitimate mail to anyone on the mail delivery route.
UIS and the University Information Security Office are working to prevent future such attacks, and are committed to ensuring that the Georgetown University computing network is secure and runs smoothly.
If you have any questions regarding yesterday's attack or have any general security-related questions or concerns, you can contact the University Information Security Office at security at georgetown.edu or the UIS Help Desk at 202-687-4949 or at help at georgetown.edu.