TorrentFreak reports:
New research reveals that BitTorrent swarms can be slowed down significantly by malicious peers. Depending on the number of seeders and the clients they use, download times can be increased by 1000%. The attacks are possible through an exploit of the BitTorrent protocol for which the researchers present a fix.
[...] In an article published in "Computers & Security", Adamsky and his colleagues reveal an exploit which allows attackers to get a higher download rate from seeders than other people.
In technical terms, the exploit misuses BitTorrent's choking mechanism of clients that use the "Allowed Fast" extension. Attackers can use this to keep a permanent connection with seeders, requesting the same pieces over and over.
(Score: 2) by MrGuy on Friday August 22 2014, @07:10PM
...violate the CFAA?
(Score: 1) by present_arms on Friday August 22 2014, @09:19PM
Afraid to ask, but what is CFAA?
http://trinity.mypclinuxos.com/
(Score: 1) by RobC207 on Friday August 22 2014, @09:45PM
Canadian Fire Alarm Association?
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 22 2014, @09:48PM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Fraud_and_Abuse_Act [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by present_arms on Saturday August 23 2014, @12:01AM
Thank you :)
http://trinity.mypclinuxos.com/
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Saturday August 23 2014, @01:34AM
Mobsters are exempt! :P
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 24 2014, @01:45AM
They are bound to use this technique to block illegal downloads of their content--all they have to do is use IP addresses that are not blocked by PeerGuardian [wikipedia.org] and the like.
Another poster mentioned:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Fraud_and_Abuse_Act [wikipedia.org]
As grounds to go after hosts that do this.
If the hosts are 'owned' by HugeMultinationalCo, suing them in court on denial-of-service grounds is POINTLESS unless you are a HugeMultinationalCo yourself....