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[Pakistan] PTCL to compensate Internet Service Providers for damages due to DoS attacks
[from Comp-list]
>From "SDNP Info" <info@isb.sdnpk.org>
Date Tue, 20 May 2003 5:11 AM
To "Comp-list" <comp-list@isb.sdnpk.org>
PTCL to compensate Internet Service Providers for damages due to DoS
attacks
The News, By Imran Ayub
5/20/2003
http://www.jang-group.com/thenews/may2003-daily/20-05-
2003/business/b4.htm
KARACHI: The Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) has
agreed to compensate losses suffered by the Internet Service
Providers (ISPs) due to the denial of service (DoS) attacks being
encountered by them since March 25.
A Technical Expert Committee, constituted by the federal minister for
IT and telecom, comprising top ministry officials, PTCL officials and
representatives of the ISPs, made this decision.
"The decision has been taken after mutual understanding of the PTCL
and the stakeholders," a top official in the ministry told The News
on Monday.
He said it was too early to estimate the losses, however, it would be
assessed soon. "We have assigned four people - two from the PTCL and
two from the ISPs. They would come up with all the necessary
information and recommendations by May 31," said the official.
He said that the committee also discussed the possibility of changing
the host servers of the government websites to keep them safe from
the hackers.
"There is no harm in transferring the sites to foreign hosts as there
are several in the international market who offer such services," he
said, adding the ministry would also take care that national security
is not jeopardised in such an event.
The country's 72 ISPs and ultimately the Internet browsers have been
suffering DoS attacks since March 25.
After a huge uproar of the ISPs and the stakeholders concerned, the
minister on May 2 formed the Technical Expert Committee to suggest
measures to counter the recurring DoS attacks mostly directed against
the government websites. PTCL says the attacks are the work of
foreign hackers.
A major attack was experienced on April 4 when the services of all
the country's ISPs came to a halt for over 15 hours causing a loss of
millions of rupees to them.
"The seven-member committee has come up with a concrete strategy to
stem the incidence of DoS attacks," said the ministry's official.
"We worked on an urgent basis and suggested short-term measures
within two days while a comprehensive strategy was submitted to the
minister in a week," he added.
The PTCL has already received negative response from the Singapore
Telecom - uplink service provider, to set off damages claimed by ISPs
due to DoS.
Meanwhile, a representative of the ISPs Association of Pakistan
(ISPAK) said that the ISPs experienced 63 DoS attacks while the total
duration of these attacks was around 47 hours.
"Amidst DoS we were denied payments by number of customers. It is too
difficult to tell the actual loss but it is expected to go beyond the
million mark," he added.
