INTERNET BLACKOUT - Major internet problems reported after cyberattack

By Emma Hinchliffe4 hours ago

Sites across the internet had problems on Friday morning following a cyberattack on a major internet management company.

On Friday morning, Dyn — a company that hosts domain name systems — announced it has been the subject of a cyberattack that caused major problems for numerous websites. People reported issues with Twitter, Spotify, SoundCloud, Vox Media sites, Airbnb and numerous other sites.

Dyn said at 9:20 a.m. ET that it resolved an attack that began at 7 a.m. ET Friday. But at 11:52 a.m. ET, the company said an attack had resumed.

Shortly after Dyn announced it was experiencing another attack, people reported more problems accessing Twitter and other sites.

Domain name systems (DNS) are essentially the GPS of the internet, taking the text URLs you type into a browser and figuring out where those websites’ data is located on the back end. So when you type mashable.com in a browser, it shows you both the real Mashable and can quickly and easily locate the nearest server that hosts the site’s data.

 http://mashable.com/2016/10/21/sites-across-internet-struggle-after-cyberattack/#XOKkyYjX8Oq3