DDoS Attacks Target Online Poker & Gambling

There has been a recent wave of DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks that were targeted at major online poker and gambling sites that have impaired the functionality of several of those major sites in recent days.

According to a report made by the Shadowserver Foundation, is the first tracking entity to report on the attacks.  The affected poker sites according to the report are Full Tilt Poker, CD Poker and Titan Poker.  Also affected are the casino games at PartyGaming and virgin Games.

A DDoS attack impairs a website capability by attacking their web servers.  They usually flood the servers with traffic from many thousands of different locations at once. 

One method for implementing a DDoS attack involves the use of remote computers that are infected with a virus or other latent code.  Upon activation the otherwise innocent computers are then incorporated into the attack on the targeted site.

Several of the major sites reported being down or suffering slow response times while the attacks were in progress, but none of the sited that were affected have issued a release on the matter as of yet.