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Aug 11 2008 2:12PM EDT

Google and Estonia Help 'Cyber-Locked' Georgia

Wired logo Civil.ge, the Georgian news site, is "under permanent [cyber] attack." So they've switched their operations to one of Google's Blogspot domains, to keep the information flowing about what's going on in their country.

The attacks against Civil.ge are part of a larger set of online assaults, originating in Russia, against Georgian websites.

"In a sense," notes Jim Stogdill, "they must be saying 'we can't keep our sites up, but we don't think [Russian hackers] can take down Blogspot, given Google's much better infrastructure and ability to defend it."

"Another interesting aspect is seeing how certain countries are what I call 'cyber-locked,'" cyber security veteran Richard Bejtlich tells DANGER ROOM, "We know a land-locked country has no access to the sea.  Countries like .ge [Georgia] might rely too heavily on one or a handful of connections, potentially through hostile countries (eg, .ru [Russia]), for their physical connectivity.  As a result an adversary can control their network access to the outside world. This diagram, from the Packet Clearing House, shows Georgia's network dilemma.

Meanwhile, Estonia -- once the victim of Russian-based hackers -- is now hosting Georgia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs website. And "in a historic first, Estonia is sending cyber defense advisors to Georgia," Network World observes.

And, of course, the strikes aren't just made up of ones and zeros. The Russians are reportedly bombing Georgia's telecommunications infrastructure -- including cell towers. "It's still very difficult to get a call anywhere around the country right now," an NPR reporter says.

[On target: The Lede]

by Noah Shachtman for Wired.com

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