Posted on 05/29/2008 11:09:55 AM PDT by bamahead
MediaDefender attacks and cripples Revision3 for locking out its spy-bots Posted by Cory Doctorow, May 29, 2008 10:14 AM | permalink MediaDefender, the thugs paid by the entertainment industry to spy on file-sharers and attempt to cripple file-sharing networks, attacked a legitimate Internet TV company called Revision3 over the weekend, launch as massive denial-of-service attack in retaliation for having their spy-bots locked out of R3's BitTorrent trackers: Revision3 runs a tracker expressly designed to coordinate the sharing and downloading of our shows. It’s a completely legitimate business practice, similar to how ESPN puts out a guide that tells viewers how to tune into its network on DirecTV, Dish, Comcast and Time Warner, or a mall might publish a map of its stores... A bit of address translation, and we’d discovered our nemesis. But instead of some shadowy underground criminal syndicate, the packets were coming from right in our home state of California. In fact, we traced the vast majority of those packets to a public company called Artistdirect (ARTD.OB). Once we were able to get their internet provider on the line, they verified that yes, indeed, that internet address belonged to a subsidiary of Artist Direct, called MediaDefender.
Who pays MediaDefender to disrupt peer to peer networks? I don’t know who’s ponying up today, but in the past their clients have included Sony, Universal Music, and the central industry groups for both music and movies – the RIAA and MPAA. According to an article by Ars Technica, the company uses “its array of 2,000 servers and a 9GBps dedicated connection to propagate fake files and launch denial of service attacks against distributors.” Another Ars Technica story claims that MediaDefender used a similar denial of service attack to bring down a group critical of its actions...
“Media Defender did not do anything specific, targeted at Revision3″, claims Grodsky. “We didn’t do anything to increase the traffic” – beyond what they’d normally be sending us due to the fact that Revision3 was hosting thousands of MediaDefender torrents improperly injected into our corporate server. His claim: that once we turned off MediaDefender’s back-door access to the server, “traffic piled up (to Revision3 from MediaDefender servers because) it didn’t get any acknowledgment back.”
Putting aside the company’s outrageous use of our servers for their own profit, and the large difference between one connection every three hours and 8,000 packets a second, I’m still left to wonder why they didn’t just tell us our basement window was unlocked. A quick call or email and we’d have locked it up tighter than a drum. ..
If it can happen to Revision3, it could happen to your business too. We’re simply in the business of delivering entertainment and information – that’s not life or death stuff. But what if MediaDefender discovers a tracker inside a hospital, fire department or 911 center? If it happened to us, it could happen to them too. In my opinion, Media Defender practices risky business, and needs to overhaul how it operates. Because in this country, as far as I know, we’re still innocent until proven guilty – not drawn, quartered and executed simply because someone thinks you’re an outlaw.
http://revision3.com/blog/2008/05/29/inside-the-attack-that-crippled-revision3
Tech ping.
Well, at least my XP doesn’t have RIAADefender...er, I mean MediaDefender.
As my Dad told me long ago: The best attack isn’t one that causes physical pain but one that hurts them in the wallet. They need to sue MediaDefender for lost productivity. Until P2P networks are deemed illegal, then MediaDefender has no right to purposely and maliciously sabotage legitimate users of technology.
Who the heck is “Grodsky?”
The article mentions the name like we’re supposed to know (or infer) who this is.
Can anyone explain why on earth what these people are doing is legal?
Which people do you mean?
The MediaDefender criminals. This just seems just so blatantly actionable...
I agree. I respect the industries right to protect themselves from copyright infringement but this crosses the line and attacks legitimate providers of legal technology.
I don't know about the fake files part, but to this uneducated soul, DoS attacks are purely criminal, whatever the intentions.
Agreed. DoS attacks are criminal - period.
Bump and ping
The techie in me would love to know which port the “Backdoor access to the server” was on.
Ben Grodsky is a VP of ops at the MediaDefender organization.
If you check the link I posted in comment # 1, he’s identified in there. The blog I used as a source only contained an excerpt of that text.
Reading what’s at that link just makes this story more appaling as you move along:
So I picked up the phone and tried to get in touch with ArtistDirect interim CEO Dimitri Villard. I eventually had a fascinating phone call with both Dimitri Villard and Ben Grodsky, Vice President of Operations at Media Defender.
First, they willingly admitted to abusing Revision3’s network, over a period of months, by injecting a broad array of torrents into our tracking server. They were able to do this because we configured the server to track hashes only – to improve performance and stability. That, in turn, opened up a back door which allowed their networking experts to exploit its capabilities for their own personal profit.
L A W S U I T.
So you work for Revision3, then?
A site I admin that has nothing to do with music gets constantly scoured by a server in DC that belongs to these Media Defender folks. It is like an attack, worse than google spider. I ban their ip every time they come up with a new one.
bamahead was just excerpting the second most interesting piece of the thread article.
http://revision3.com/blog/2008/05/29/inside-the-attack-that-crippled-revision3
From what it sounds like, that server in DC may not really belong to them. They apparently hijack boxes to satisfy their own whims and those of their unscrupulous clients. These people are scum.
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