Tag Archives: websites

Cloudflare Outage Disrupts Websites Including LinkedIn and Zoom

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A variety of websites, such as LinkedIn, Zoom, and Downdetector, experienced outages on Friday morning due to another incident involving Cloudflare. This marks the company’s second disruption within a month.

Cloudflare reported that the outage was triggered by adjustments made to their firewalls intended to protect customers from a widespread software vulnerability disclosed earlier this week, clarifying it was not the result of a cyber attack. Previously, another issue was observed concerning their application programming interface.

The incident lasted approximately 30 minutes, concluding shortly after 9 a.m. Japan time. This follows a larger Cloudflare outage in mid-November that impacted platforms like X, OpenAI, and Spotify, along with online games such as League of Legends.

The underlying issue was identified as “configuration files that are automatically generated to manage threat traffic,” which exceeded expected sizes, leading to a crash of the software system responsible for handling traffic across various Cloudflare services.

Friday’s malfunction appeared relatively minor, affecting sites including Canva, Shopify, and the India-based brokerage firm Groww, alongside LinkedIn, Zoom, and Downdetector, which tracks online service issues. Downdetector recorded over 4,500 reports related to Cloudflare once the services resumed.

Given the recent series of prominent internet outages, some businesses might be reevaluating their reliance on Cloudflare’s offerings.

Stephen Murdoch, a computer science professor at University College London, noted, “Given these two outages within such a brief timeframe, it’s likely people will begin to question their reliability. They’re not satisfied, and Cloudflare isn’t happy either. They apologize, but it’s premature to determine if there’s a systemic problem, like software misuse, or just unfortunate timing.”

Murdoch emphasized that Cloudflare, known for its global cloud services and cybersecurity, promotes itself on its reliability. Businesses utilize its services for enhanced immunity against specific cyber threats, improved website performance, faster load times, and greater resilience to server failures.

The recent outages from Amazon Web Services, including one in October that affected over 2,000 businesses globally, have sparked discussions among experts about whether major internet services are becoming overly centralized and thus more vulnerable.

“There’s significant centralization occurring,” Murdoch stated. “Cloudflare offers an excellent product and is widely used, which introduces potential vulnerabilities.”

“This highlights yet again how exposed the major tech internet is,” remarked Michał “Risiek” Wojniak, an expert on DNS and internet infrastructure. “This marks the fourth major global outage since October 20th that has drawn the attention of media outside of the tech sphere and affected everyday users around the globe.”

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According to Cloudflare, around 20% of all websites utilize its services in one form or another. The company boasts nearly 300,000 clients in 125 countries and claims to thwart billions of cyberattacks against its users on a daily basis, generating over $500 million (£440 million) each quarter.

Wojniak stated that the recent outages raise questions about Cloudflare’s marketing strategy, which promotes reliability and resilience alongside the common belief that larger enterprises are safer partners than smaller infrastructure providers.

“These companies are growing too large to fail, and their extensive traffic handling means that when they do encounter issues, it leads to significant problems very quickly,” he added.

Conversely, Murdoch suggested that the outages could be an opportunity for Cloudflare. “When AWS went down, its stock price actually increased because people recognized the scale of its usage. [The outage] serves as effective marketing, demonstrating the widespread reliance on Cloudflare.”

Source: www.theguardian.com

Pornhub and Three Other Adult Websites Undergo EU Child Safety Evaluation

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European officials have initiated an investigation into four adult websites suspected of inadequately preventing minors from viewing adult content.

Following a review of the companies’ policies, the European Commission criticized PornHub, StripChat, XNXX, and XVideos for not implementing adequate age verification procedures to block minors from accessing their sites.

This inquiry has been launched in accordance with the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), a comprehensive set of regulations aimed at curbing online harm such as disinformation, cyber threats, hate speech, and counterfeit merchandise. The DSA also enforces stringent measures to safeguard children online, including preventing mental health repercussions from exposure to adult materials.

The committee noted that all four platforms employed a simple one-click self-certification for age verification.

“Today marks a significant step toward child protection online in the EU, as the enforcement action we are initiating… clearly indicates our commitment to hold four major adult content platforms accountable for effectively safeguarding minors under the DSA.”

While no specific deadline has been set for concluding the investigation, officials stressed that they aim to act swiftly on potential next steps based on the platforms’ responses.

The platforms can resolve the investigation by implementing an age verification system recognized as effective by EU regulators. Failure to comply could result in fines of up to 6% of their global annual revenue.

The DSA regulates platforms with over 45 million users, including Google, Meta, and X, while national authorities in each of the 27 member states are responsible for those that fall beneath this threshold.

On Tuesday, the committee announced that StripChat no longer qualifies as a “very large online platform.” Following the company’s appeal, its oversight will now be handled by Cyprus rather than Brussels, under its parent company, Techinius Ltd.

However, this new designation will not take effect until September, meaning that the investigation into age verification remains active.

The child protection responsibilities of StripChat will continue unchanged.

Aylo FreeSites, the parent company of Pornhub, is aware of the ongoing investigation and has stated its “full commitment” to ensuring the online safety of minors.

“We are in full compliance with the law,” the company remarked. “We believe the effective way to protect both minors and adults is to verify user age at the point of access through their device, ensuring that websites provide or restrict access to age-sensitive content based on that verification.”

Techinius has been approached for comments. A Brussels-based attorney, recently representing the parent company of XVideos (Web Group Czech Republic) and XNXX (NKL Associates) in EU legal matters, has also reached out for statements.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Pro-Russian Hackers Claim Responsibility for Attacks on Multiple UK Websites

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A hacking group supportive of Russia has announced that they targeted various UK websites during a three-day campaign, which included local councils and the Police and Crime Commissioners’ Association.

Through a series of posts on social media, the group, known as NonMaMe057 (16), claimed many sites were temporarily inaccessible, although reports indicate that the attack was not entirely successful.

The hackers attempted to overwhelm several websites with traffic in a type of attack known as a distributed denial of service (DDoS). They stated on platform X: “Ukraine disputes, and we are cutting that resource.”

Despite the group’s claims of success, Blackburn with Darwen and Exeter councils reported that their websites remained unaffected.

Many other targeted organizations, such as the Police and Crime Commissioners’ Association, Harwich International Port, and Cardiff City Council, were unable to comment on the situation.

Officials mentioned that if a website experienced temporary unavailability due to sudden traffic surges, it would typically be operational again within hours.

A spokesperson for Arun District Council commented, “On Tuesday morning, from around 7:15 am, our website was fully operational by 11:30 am. We are aware of the claims made on X and are continuing to investigate.”

National Highways also encountered a DDoS attack but stated that their website would soon return to normal functionality.

This incident mirrors an attempt to disrupt multiple council websites last October. While resident data was not compromised, the websites were briefly disabled due to overwhelming traffic.

The National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) noted at that time that they “provided guidance” to the affected local authorities. “Although DDoS attacks tend to be less sophisticated and impactful, they can cause significant disruption by blocking legitimate users from accessing online services,” they added.

Since its inception in 2022, NONAME057 (16) has employed such tactics to disrupt the functioning of various Ukrainian, European, and American governmental entities and media outlets. In January 2023, they targeted the website of a Czech presidential candidate, marking their first political attack.

A survey by cybersecurity firm Bridewell last summer revealed that 63% of government sector companies experienced ransomware attacks over the past year. The National Audit Office cautioned in January that “cyber threats to the UK government will pose serious risks and evolve rapidly.”

Recently, the NCSC was compelled to issue new guidance on retailer cyber attack vulnerabilities, which appeared to originate from criminals targeting help desks. This included attacks on well-known retailers such as Marks & Spencer, the Co-op, and Harrods.

Criminals focused on these help desks to alter passwords and reset authentication processes in order to gain access to systems.

Regarding the attacks on retailers, the NCSC stated, “We are not in a position to determine whether this is connected, whether it represents a coordinated campaign by a single actor, or if there is no connection at all.”

Source: www.theguardian.com

Government websites may soon remove scientific data.

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During a flurry of executive orders signed by President Trump, significant changes were made affecting the content on government web pages and public access to data related to climate change, the environment, energy, and public health.

In the past two months, hundreds of terabytes of data have been removed from government websites, raising concerns about potential deletions. While the underlying data still exists, tools for public and researcher access have been taken down.

Now, hundreds of volunteers are actively recreating digital tools to gather and download as much government data as possible, making it readily available to the public.

Volunteers working on the project Public Environment Data Partner have already recovered over 100 datasets that were removed from government sites and aim to store a growing number of 300 datasets.

Efforts to download climate, environmental, energy, and public health data began in 2017 amidst fears about its future under a president who dismissed climate change as a hoax. Federal information has since disappeared, prompting a new response.

Environmental scientist Gretchen Gerke emphasized the importance of resilient public information in the digital age, expressing concern over the removal of vital data access tools. The need for data like climate measurements collected by NOAA is crucial for various parties, yet efforts to restrict public access continue.

The technology director at the Center for Environmental Policy Innovation highlighted the removal of public access and emphasized the taxpayer-funded nature of these tools.

Requests for two essential data tools, Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST) and Environmental Justice Screening Tool (EJScreen), have been frequent. These tools, crucial for addressing environmental justice and climate change issues, were removed from access.

The removal of these tools has hindered efforts to address structural racism and disproportionate impacts on communities of color, as highlighted by Dr. Geke.

Source: www.nytimes.com

The Growth of Muslim-Friendly Websites and Apps: A Look at Halal Technology in 2024

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aMany Kirawi create breakup playlists every time they get dumped, and there are three in total. A playlist featuring songs like Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know” and OneRepublic’s “Apologize” would be the perfect soundtrack for a romantic split, but it wasn’t. The playlist was put together after Qirawi was told by three different banks and payment processors that they would no longer work with LaunchGood, a crowdfunding platform for the Muslim community that she co-founded.

Stripe said so. limit the work After working with LaunchGood for five years, we entered the crowdfunding space. Stripe also told the company that it no longer wanted to do any international humanitarian work, which is a prerequisite for crowdfunding platforms that cater to Muslim communities. Another bank told the company there were so many Muslim and Arabic names that it was difficult to know whether those names belonged to sanctioned individuals.

“People don’t realize that Muhammad is the most approved name,” said Kilawi, LaunchGood’s chief operating officer. With each layoff, it felt like LaunchGood was on the brink of collapse. “If we can’t accept payments, we can’t survive as a business,” she says.

Few existing options offered the stability and reliability that Killawi and his co-founders were looking for. So they did what a growing number of the founders of Islam have been doing ever since. It was about creating your own solution.

LaunchGood co-founders Amany Killawi, Chris Blauvelt, and Omar Hamid. Photo: LaunchGood

Now, more than a decade after its founding, LaunchGood is a well-known company that has helped its primarily Muslim user base raise nearly $700 million. Although the platform also hosts private fundraisers, LaunchGood is best known for: focus on philanthropy Users can also now set up automatic donations for every day of the holy month of Ramadan. It is the main gateway for many people during Ramadan, and many Muslims donate to charity every day during Ramadan.

The rise of this site and the challenges it faces are not unusual. According to studies and surveys, the “halal” consumer market, which includes halal food, financial services, and other goods and services aimed at Muslims, has grown to an estimated $2 trillion worldwide. Advisory company Dinar Standard. still 2022 survey Muslims are more likely than other religious groups to have their accounts closed, investigated, or challenged at banks and other U.S. financial institutions, according to a study conducted by the Institute for Social Policy Understanding (ISPU). More likely, businesses are effectively denied access to Muslim customers.

That’s why Kirawi decided to step away from his day-to-day responsibilities as LaunchGood’s chief operating officer and form a sister company, a payments processing company called PayGood, in 2024. She hopes to give what the LaunchGood team had to hack together to Muslim businesses and charities. As such, it is a non-discriminatory and reliable payment system.

“when [my co-founders and I] “We started 11 years ago and we just wanted to build a community,” Kirawi said. “We never thought we would have to become compliance experts. At some point, it felt very present. Can you survive in this world without financial access? ”

LaunchGood was one of the early entrants into the largely untapped Muslim-friendly technology space, while its sister company is a growing technology company aimed at catering to Muslims in the US, Canada, and the UK. Part of the enterprise and software companies. But what it means to be a Muslim-friendly company has begun to change since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas. Targeting Muslim consumers has always meant some alignment with the ethics and values ​​of the Muslim community, such as offering halal dating apps, interest-free loans, and modest clothing. Now, this new player in Muslim-friendly technology is openly responding to growing demand among its target customers to make it easier to stop contributing to Israel’s oppression of Palestinians. Or working on it implicitly.

“What happened in Gaza last year struck a completely different nerve,” Qirawi said. “Palestine is a perennial issue for Muslims, but the level and scale of destruction over the past year has been unprecedented. It has accelerated this entire Islamic ecosystem and economy.” There's a new awareness among people: “Let's vote.'' ”

Even PayGood, which is still in beta, is starting to emerge as an alternative to major payment processors like Stripe and PayPal as Muslims decide whether these existing platforms align with their values. .

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Source: www.theguardian.com