Merged Can't access http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/

mummymonkey

Did you spill my pint?
mummymonkey
Joined
Dec 3, 2002
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Pharyngula

Not been able to get on to PZ's blog for a while. Seems to be a DDOS attack according to Dawkin's blog.
 
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mummymonkey said:
Not been able to get on to PZ's blog for a while. Seems to be a DDOS attack according to Dawkin's blog.
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It's Scienceblogs as a whole that is suffering the attack. (Pharyngula specifically may or may not be the intended target.)

I'm not having any trouble accessing, but for the benefit of anyone who is, here is the message from Scienceblogs' administrator:

We have been forwarding reports from bloggers and users to our hosting service, Rackspace, over the past few days. After monitoring our traffic and these reports, Rackspace has determined that ScienceBlogs is experiencing a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack and has blocked a range of IP addresses involved. While this means that ScienceBlogs is now loading correctly for most users, the attack is still ongoing and other users may still encounter sporadic loading problems, or be blocked entirely if they were incorrectly included in these preventative measures.

We're still working with Rackspace to determine how and why this has occurred, and to get the site 100% accessible again, but in the meantime, we'd like to collect IP addresses from users who are still experiencing problems. Please ask anyone who has brought this problem to your attention to send their IP address to webmaster@scienceblogs.com. If they have trouble locating their IP address, you can send them to this site: http://whatismyipaddress.com/
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Me too, though it is all of Scienceblogs. I usually go to Respectful Insolence.

This morning after dropping daughter off at school I popped into a local coffee shop and tried out their wifi, I could still not get to Scienceblogs. Then I walked into the library, where I was able to check into RI, and post a couple of comments.

At home I have been able to read some by using Google Cache:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/

Edit out the same thing Dunstan posted, he was quicker.
 
Scienceblogs just doesn't load. No error message, no "this has been blocked" stuff, it just refuses to load as if I typed scienceblogs.cob rather than .com.
 
MarkCorrigan said:
Scienceblogs just doesn't load. No error message, no "this has been blocked" stuff, it just refuses to load as if I typed scienceblogs.cob rather than .com.
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Does your browser give a "Timed out" or "The site is taking too long to load" type error? Mine was until today (though I've been traveling) which I'd expect from a server overloaded by a DoS attack. Or many other problems.
 
MarkCorrigan said:
Scienceblogs just doesn't load. No error message, no "this has been blocked" stuff, it just refuses to load as if I typed scienceblogs.cob rather than .com.
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It's working fine for me. You might want to contact the scienceblogs admin (address above) to make sure your IP address hasn't been blocked as part of the defensive measures.
 
People were complaining yesterday, and I wasn't having any problems, but they have started today. Lots of timing out
 
MarkCorrigan said:
Scienceblogs just doesn't load. No error message, no "this has been blocked" stuff, it just refuses to load as if I typed scienceblogs.cob rather than .com.
Click to expand...

Have you emailed the webmaster your IP address?

Edit to add: I finally got in from home this morning. I was getting the "scienceblogs.com is taking to long to respond" earlier. I am getting a bit of that today, plus the error that the server has reset. But every so often I get it. I am wondering if the DDoS is continuing.
 
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I couldn't get in earlier today and saw that message posted on someones Facebook.

I emailed the webmaster with my IP:

Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently
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Guess they're still having major problems at the servers.
 
Apparently Seed (which owns scienceblogs) has been a mess for the last year or so. Several months ago, a bunch of Sciencebloggers left due to a combination of crappy technical support, non-payment of revenues, and a controversial "sponsored blog" where Pepsi scientists were going to write all about nutrition (and, no doubt, how totally dedicated to nutrition PepsiCo is). PZ has said that the tech support remains non-existent, and he hasn't seen a check in many months.

Obviously, DDoS attacks have brought down even well-run web sites, but I suspect scienceblogs is a pretty soft target.
 
This is getting annoying now - for the last week almost I can't access http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/

or even
http://scienceblogs.com

I know it's up - this site tells me
http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com/

but using three different browsers IE, FF * Chrome still get message similar to:
This program cannot display the webpage


Most likely causes:

  • cause NotConnectedYou are not connected to the Internet. causeSiteProblem The website is encountering problems.
  • There might be a typing error in the address.
What you can try:


Check your Internet connection. Try visiting another website to make sure you are connected.

Retype the address.
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Can't see how it could be blackisted or anything - I'm on 02 in the UK - anyone else this side of the pond having trouble with it?
 
They are undergoing a denial of service attack from Turkey and Qatar. No problem accessing from Massachusetts, USA.

Let me apologize again for the problems that many of you and your readers are experiencing. The attack is ongoing, originating from Turkey and Qatar, and until it stops, Rackspace must block IP ranges in order for the site to be accessible to anyone. They are also unwilling to manually unblock hundreds upon hundreds of individual IPs. They have advised that we invest in a firewall and additional services from them, but we are still working out what these will cost and how effective they will be. I am not sure if I was correct in thinking that these attacks are not malicious, but I said so because we were told the attackers were trying to use our servers as an open proxy, with the request "GET http://www.kosmodiskmedikal.com/ HTTP/1.1." Upon reflection, I have no idea what that means.
Click to expand...

~~ Paul
 
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