Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Thursday 15 November 2018

Nigerian ISP's configuration error disrupted Google services

By FRANK BAJAK, Associ- in the internet's susceptibil-
ated Press ity to "unpredictable and
BOSTON (AP) — A Nigerian destabilizing events. If this
internet service provider could happen to a com-
said Tuesday that a config- pany with the scale and
uration error it made during resources available that
a network upgrade caused Google has, realize it could
a disruption of key Google happen to anyone."
services, routing traffic to The diversion, known as
China and Russia. border gateway protocol
Even with MainOne's expla- route hijacking, is built into
nation, there was specula- the internet , which was de-
tion that Monday's 74-min- signed for collaboration by
ute data hijacking might trusted parties — not com-
not have been an acci- petition by hostile nation-
dent. states. Experts say it is fix-
Google's search, cloud able but that would require
hosting and corporate-fo- investments in encrypted
cused G-Suite collabora- routers that the industry has
tive tools were among ser- resisted .
vices disrupted. ThousandEyes said the di-
"Everyone is pretty confi- version at minimum made
dent that nothing untow- Google's search and busi-
ard took place," MainOne In this Monday, Nov. 5, 2018, photo, a woman carries a fire extinguisher past the logo for Google ness collaboration tools dif-
spokesman Tayo Ashiru at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai. Associated Press ficult or impossible to reach
said. and "put valuable Google
But Jake Williams, presi- should not rule out med- like Nigeria is well known, sential services offline and traffic in the hands of ISPs in
dent of Rendition InfoSec dling by a nation-state with he said. facilitate espionage and countries with a long history
and a former U.S. govern- something to gain. The lev- The type of traffic misdirec- financial theft. of Internet surveillance."
ment hacker, said a skeptic el of corruption in a country tion involved can knock es- It can also be used to block Most network traffic to
access to information by
Volkswagen to devote 3 German sending data requests into Google services — 94 per-
cent as of Oct. 27 — is en-
internet black holes. Experts
plants to electric car push say China, in particular, has crypted, which shields it
from prying eyes even if di-
hijacked
systematically
rupted on services like G-
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) and diverted U.S. internet verted. But work was inter-
— German automaker traffic. Suite, which Google CEO
Volkswagen will convert But the problem can also Sundar Pichai in February
three factories in Germany result from human error. It's said had more than 4 mil-
to manufacture electric very difficult to tell the dif- lion businesses as custom-
cars, ramping up produc- ference, said Williams. ers.
tion of zero-local emission Google said it had no rea- G-Suite and Google Cloud
cars ahead of tougher son to believe the traffic hi- combined generate about
European emissions stan- jacking was malicious. $4 billion in revenue each
dards, the company said Ashiru said engineers at year.
Wednesday. MainOne, a major west Google did not quantify
Wolfsburg-based Volkswa- African ISP, mistakenly for- the disruption other than to
gen said Wednesday that it warded to China Telecom say in a statement that "ac-
would begin local produc- addresses for Google ser- cess to some Google ser-
tion of electric-powered In this March 8, 2018 file photo photo Volkswagen cars are vices that were supposed vices was impacted."
vehicles at its facilities in pictured during a final quality control at the Volkswagen plant to be local. The Chinese Indeed, the phenome-
Emden and Hannover in in Wolfsburg, Germany. Associated Press company, in turn, sent non has occurred before.
2022. A plant in Zwickau along the bad data to Rus- Google was briefly afflicted
was designated previously makers had bet heavily on cle emitted more nitrogen sia's TransTelecom, a major in 2015 when an Indian pro-
for e-car production. diesel models, which get oxide pollution in real-life internet presence. Ashiru vider stumbled. In perhaps
Volkswagen personnel better mileage than gaso- driving than during tests. said MainOne did not yet the best-known case, Paki-
head Gunnar Kilian said line powered vehicles, to The EU introduced new test understand why China stan Telecom inadvertently
that workers were given meet tough limits on emis- procedures Sept. 1 that are Telecom did that, as the hijacked YouTube's global
a jobs guarantee through sions of carbon dioxide, a intended to measure emis- state-run company nor- traffic in 2008 for a few
2028, but that the compa- greenhouse gas scientists sions in daily driving condi- mally doesn't allow Google hours when it was trying to
ny would work to reduce say causes global warming. tions. traffic on its network. enforce a domestic ban. It
positions "in a socially re- Diesel sales in Europe have As diesel sales fall carmak- The traffic diversion into sent all YouTube traffic into
sponsible way" since elec- eroded, however, since ers are turning to elec- China created a detour a virtual ditch in Pakistan.
trics require fewer produc- Volkswagen was caught tric vehicles to meeting with a dead end, prevent- In two recent cases, such
tion steps. using software to cheat on the new C02 limits, even ing users from accessing rerouting has affected fi-
Analysts say carmakers diesel emissions tests and though consumer uptake the affected Google ser- nancial sites.
will need to add electric paid more than 28 billion has been slow because vices, said Alex Henthorn- In April 2017, one affect-
cars to their sales lineups euros ($31 billion) in fines, of higher costs and lack Iwane, an executive at the ed MasterCard and Visa
to meet the new European settlements and penal- of convenient places to network-intelligence com- among other sites. This past
Union rules on greenhouse ties. Subsequent scrutiny of charge up. Battery electric pany ThousandEyes. April, another hijacking
gas emissions from 2021. diesel technology showed cars were 0.6 percent of EU He said Monday's incident enabled cryptocurrency
Volkswagen and other car that other carmakers' vehi- auto sales last year.q offered yet another lesson theft.q