CNET News.com: Expert warns of powerful new [DDoS] hacker tool

[ Thanks to George
Mitchell for this link. ]

“A potent new software tool has emerged for launching
attacks similar to, but more lethal than, the ones that took down
Yahoo and other major Web sites in February.”

“The new tool, called “Mstream,” joins Trinoo, TFN2K,
Stacheldraht, Shaft and other programs made to launch “distributed
denial of service” (DDoS) attacks.”

“Although Mstream apparently is still in the early stages of
development, the core attack engine is more powerful than the
existing attack software tools, said Dave Dittrich, a University of
Washington computer administrator who helped in an analysis of
Mstream.”

“One side effect of the new program is that it potentially can
complete a successful attack using fewer computers than did earlier
tools. The software “will be disruptive to the victim…even with
an attack network consisting of only a handful of agents,” Dittrich
said.”

Complete Story