Page 8A
BUSINESS & TECH
East Oregonian
Cyberattacks disrupt internet
LONDON (AP) — Cyberattacks on
a key internet irm repeatedly disrupted
the availability of popular websites
across the United States on Friday,
according to analysts and company
oficials. The White House described
the disruption as malicious. Members of
a hacker group spread across China and
Russia claimed responsibility, although
their assertion couldn’t be veriied.
Manchester, New Hampshire-based
Dyn Inc. said its server infrastructure
was hit by distributed denial-of-service
attacks, which work by overwhelming
targeted machines with junk data trafic.
The attack had knock-on effects for
users trying to access popular websites
from across America and even in
Europe, affecting sites such as Twitter,
Netlix and PayPal.
Broad effects
The level of disruption was dificult
to gauge, but Dyn provides internet
trafic management and optimization
services to some of the biggest names
on the web, including Twitter, Netlix
and Visa. Critically, Dyn provides
domain name services, which translate
the human-readable addresses such as
“twitter.com” into an online route for
browsers and applications.
Steve Grobman, chief technology
oficer at Intel Security, compared
an outage at a domain name services
company to tearing up a map or turning
off GPS before driving to the depart-
ment store. “It doesn’t matter that the
store is fully open or operational if you
have no idea how to get there,” he said
in a telephone interview.
Jason Read, founder of the internet
performance monitoring irm Cloud-
Harmony, owned by Gartner Inc., said
his company tracked a half-hour-long
disruption early Friday in which roughly
one in two end users would have found
it impossible to access various websites
from the East Coast. A second attack
later in the day caused disruption to
the East and West coasts as well as
impacting some users in Europe.
Read said Dyn provides services to
some 6 percent of America’s Fortune
500 companies. “It impacted quite a few
users,” he said of the morning’s attack.
A full list of affected companies wasn’t
immediately available, but Twitter,
Netlix, PayPal and the coder hangout
Github said they briely experienced
problems earlier Friday.
China. The two claimed to be taking
“good actions.”
Another collective member the AP
previously communicated with via
direct message called himself “Ownz”
and identiied himself as a 19-year-old
in London. He told the AP that the group
— or at least he — sought through
hacking only to expose security vulner-
abilities.
Hackers claim responsibility The vulnerable internet
Members of a shadowy hacker
collective that calls itself New World
Hackers claimed responsibility for the
attack via Twitter. They said they orga-
nized networks of connected “zombie”
computers that threw a staggering
1.2 terabits per second of data at the
Dyn-managed servers.
“We didn’t do this to attract federal
agents, only test power,” two collective
members who identiied themselves
as “Prophet” and “Zain” told an AP
reporter via Twitter direct message
exchange. They said more than 10
members participated in the attack. It
was not immediately possible to verify
the claim.
Dyn oficials said they did not know
who was behind the attacks or if they
were orchestrated by a state-backed
group or online activists or pranksters.
They said they have received no claim
of responsibility, but are working with
law enforcement.
The collective, @NewWorldHacking
on Twitter, has in the past claimed
responsibility for similar attacks against
sites including ESPNFantasySports.
com in September and the BBC on Dec.
31. The attack on the BBC marshalled
half the computing power of Friday’s
onslaught.
The collective has also claimed
responsibility for cyberattacks against
Islamic State. The two said about 30
people have access to the @NewWork-
dHacking Twitter account. They said 20
are in Russia and 10 in China. “Prophet”
said he is in India. “Zain” said he is in
For James Norton, the former
deputy secretary at the Department of
Homeland Security who now teaches on
cybersecurity policy at Johns Hopkins
University, the incident was an example
of how attacks on key junctures in the
network can yield massive disruption.
“I think you can see how fragile the
internet network actually is,” he said.
Dyn said in a series of statements
that it irst became aware of the attack
around 7:00 a.m. local time and that
services were restored about two hours
later. A little more than two hours
later, the company said it was working
to mitigate another attack. A Dyn
spokesman didn’t respond to questions
seeking further information about the
online onslaught.
The U.S. Department of Homeland
Security is monitoring the situation,
White House spokesman Josh Earnest
told reporters Friday. He said he had no
information about who may be behind
the disruption.
Security experts have recently
expressed concern over increasing
power of denial-of-service attacks
following
high-proile
electronic
assaults against investigative journalist
Brian Krebs and French internet service
provider OVH .
In a widely shared essay titled
“Someone Is Learning How to Take
Down the Internet,” respected security
expert Bruce Schneier said last month
that major internet infrastructure compa-
nies were seeing a series of worrying
denial-of-service attacks.
$47B offer to create world’s biggest tobacco company
LONDON (AP) — British
American Tobacco has offered
to buy out Reynolds American
Inc. for $47 billion in an
attempt to gain a strong pres-
ence in the U.S., a lucrative
market where sales of elec-
tronic cigarettes are booming
as traditional smoking fades.
The takeover would create
the world’s largest publicly
traded tobacco company and
combine BAT’s presence in
developing countries, where
anti-smoking campaigns are
not as strong as in the U.S.
and Europe, with Reynolds’
almost exclusive focus on the
U.S.
BAT already owns 42
percent of Reynolds and
sells Dunhill, Rothmans
and Lucky Strike cigarettes.
Reynolds controls about a
third of the U.S. market with
brands like Newport, Camel
and Pall Mall.
Though smoking in the
U.S. is declining, it remains
“the largest global proit
pool” outside of China, BAT
said in a statement Friday.
The U.S. is one of the biggest
markets for e-cigarettes.
“BAT and Reynolds Amer-
ican have a strong existing
relationship, and while cost
savings will be relatively
modest, the full access this
acquisition would give BAT
to the U.S. — a lucrative,
consolidated market with high
barriers to entry — means it
makes eminent sense,” Shane
MacGuill, head of tobacco at
Your Hearing
Keeps Getting
Younger...
Euromonitor International,
said by e-mail.
The deal is the latest
attempted merger in the
industry as tobacco compa-
nies face weakening demand
in developed markets. Only
last year, Reynolds Amer-
ican acquired Lorillard,
the maker of Newport, the
U.S.’s best-selling menthol
cigarette brand.
Saturday, October 22, 2016
BRIEFLY
Mid-Columbia
Propane opens
shop in Hermiston
HERMISTON — Herm-
iston has a new propane
business in town with
Mid-Columbia Propane.
The company, located
at 81756 N. Highway 395,
offers propane, tanks and
service calls. The ofice
is open Monday through
Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Freddy Enriquez, who
owns the business with his
wife Lindsey Enriquez,
said he and manager Scot
Sheirbon have more than
60 years of experience
combined in the propane
industry. He irst started
Mid-Columbia Propane in
Hood River and said they
offer the same competitive
pricing and great customer
service in Hermiston that
they have experience
providing in Hood River.
“We are a very
service-oriented company,”
Enriquez said.
He said the Hermiston
storefront will be locally
owned and operated.
To contact Mid-Co-
lumbia Propane, call
541-922-0133.
Safety coalition
seeks student
safety videos
SALEM — High school
students across Oregon
can win cash prizes for
their creativity in making
a video that increases
awareness about workplace
safety for young workers.
The “Speak up. Work
safe.” contest accepts
submissions that are fun,
quirky or serious. The top
three entries will receive
cash prizes ranging from
$300 to $500. In addition,
students will earn a
matching amount for their
school.
Students must create a
video of 90-second or less
that inspires young workers
to do at least one thing
differently to stay safe on
the job. The video must
include the theme, “Speak
up. Work safe.”
Organized by the
Oregon Young Employee
Safety Coalition, the
submission deadline is
Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017.
Winners will be unveiled
at a screening event in the
spring and winning entries
will be posted on YouTube.
For more information,
including contest details and
contact links, visit www.
youngemployeesafety.org/
contest.
Wheatland
Insurance sets
food drive
HEPPNER — A
canned food drive is
underway at Wheatland
Insurance in Heppner.
People are invited to
donate non-perishable
food items during regular
business hours through
Friday, Dec. 16 at 294
N. Main St., Heppner.
Food collected will help
local families during the
holiday season. It will be
distributed through the
Neighborhood Center.
The Neighborhood
Center, which serves
south Morrow County, is
located at 441 N. Main
St., Heppner. For more
information about their
services, call 541-676-5024.
Tesla may enter
ride ride-hailing
business next year
DETROIT (AP) —
Electric car maker Tesla
Motors has plans to get into
the ride-hailing and sharing
businesses.
The company hinted at
the venture earlier this week
when it announced that
all of its cars would come
equipped with hardware
needed to drive themselves.
The company says in
a disclaimer that use of
self-driving Teslas to make
money with ride-hailing
or sharing will be allowed
only on Tesla’s own
network. Details will be
released next year.
A Tesla spokeswoman
wouldn’t comment on the
matter.
They’re your dreams.
Start building them.
You’ve already dreamed up the blueprints. We may be able to help
bring them to life. The U.S. Bank Home Equity Line of Credit offers
competitive rates, lexible payment options and trusted service to help
you inance the lasting home improvements you’ve always wanted.
Advanced Technology
to keep you connected!
• Rechargable Lithium Batteries
• Bluetooth Connections for
your devices
-Cellphone
-Computer
-Television
-Tablets and EReaders
HOME
EQUITY
LINE OF
CREDIT
Introductory rate for 6 months
Rates as low as
Variable rate after
introductory period
1.50 % 4.00 %
APR*
Rate available 9/11/16 - 11/11/16.
Rates are subject to change.
APR*
Rate shown for lines of credit:
– Up to 70% loan-to-value
– U.S. Bank Consumer Checking Package
Actual rate may be lower.
Visit usbank.com for custom rates.
Call 800.209.BANK (2265),
visit a local branch,
or go to usbank.com/dreambig
2237 SW Court, Pendleton • 541-276-5053
www.renataanderson.com
*1.50% Introductory Annual Percentage Rate (APR) is available on Home Equity Lines of Credit with an 80% loan-to-value (LTV) or less.
The Introductory Interest Rate will be ixed at 1.50% during the 6-month Introductory Period. A higher introductory rate will apply for an
LTV above 80%. Offer is available for new applications submitted from September 11 – November 11, 2016. After the 6-month
introductory period: the APR is variable and is based upon an index plus a margin. The APR will vary with Prime Rate (the index) as
published in the Wall Street Journal. As of September 11, 2016, the variable rate for Home Equity Lines of Credit ranged from 2.62% APR
to 7.20% APR. Higher rates may apply due to an increase in the Prime Rate, a credit limit below $100,000, an LTV above 70%, and/or a
credit score less than 730. A U.S. Bank Consumer Silver, Gold, or Platinum Checking Package account is required to receive the lowest
rate, but is not required for loan approval. The rate will not vary above 18% APR, or applicable state law, or below 2.12% APR – 2.55%
APR, depending on market. Choosing an interest-only repayment may cause your monthly payment to increase, possibly substantially,
once your credit line transitions into the repayment period. Repayment options may vary based on credit qualiications. Interest only
repayment may be unavailable. Loans are subject to credit approval and program guidelines. Not all loan programs are available in all
states for all loan amounts. Interest rates and program terms are subject to change without notice. Property insurance is required. U.S.
Bank and its representatives do not provide tax or legal advice. Your tax and inancial situation is unique. You should consult your tax and/
or legal advisor for advice and information concerning your particular situation. Other restrictions may apply. Mortgage and Home Equity
products offered by U.S. Bank National Association. Deposit Products are offered through U.S. Bank National Association. Customer pays
no closing costs, except escrow-related funding costs. An annual fee of up to $90 may apply after the irst year and is
waived with a U.S. Bank personal Platinum Checking Package. The Consumer Pricing Information brochure lists terms and
conditions that apply to U.S. Bank Consumer Checking Package accounts and can be obtained by calling 800.872.2657.
Member FDIC. ©2016 U.S. Bank. 160494 8/16
“World’s Most Ethical Companies” and “Ethisphere” names and marks are registered trademarks of Ethisphere LLC.