There has been another major network disruption on 2 November 2016, after Level 3 Communications dropped packets for an unknown reason. A distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack similar to the network attack of the Dyn Network Services Inc., New Hampshire, cannot be concluded at this time. The disruption lasted from the morning hours, Eastern Standard Time and was corrected by noon. The Level 3 disruption did not affect any of their major streaming services as NetFlix or HBO Go Mobile, but did affect some of their customer’s voice and Internet services. Level 3 is in the process of being acquired by CenturyLink Incorporated in a 34 billion USD deal; which is awaiting FCC approval. This information is being provided for your situational awareness. Wapack Labs will continue to monitor.
- Level 3 is a major communication/Internet service provider.
- CenturyLink is in the process of acquiring Level 3.
- Level 3 dropped packets on 2 November 2016 for an unknown reason.
Publication
date: 2
November 2016
Handling
requirements: Traffic
light protocol (TLP) GREEN
Attribution/Threat
Actors: Unknown at this time
Actor
Type: Adversary
capabilities have been assessed as Tier II*
Potential Targets: Level
3 Communications Inc.
Past Reporting: DOC-4381, DOC-4393
* Practitioners with a greater depth of experience, with the ability to develop their own tools (from publicly known vulnerabilities).
The full attribution report has been published in its entirety in the Red Sky Alliance portal. For more information please contact the lab directly at 844-4-WAPACK, 603-606-1246, or feedback@wapacklabs.com.
About Wapack Labs
Wapack Labs, located in New Boston, NH is a Cyber Threat Analysis and Intelligence organization supporting the Red Sky Alliance, the FS-ISAC and individual organizations by offering expert level targeted intelligence analysis answering some of the hardest questions in Cyber. Wapack Labs’ engineers, researchers and analysts use deep analysis techniques and visualization to design and deliver transformational cyber-security analysis tools that fuse open source and proprietary information. The intelligence derived from these tools and techniques serve as the foundation of Wapack Labs’ information reporting to the cyber-security teams of its customers and industry partners located around the world.
