SAN MATEO, CA — August 18, 2003 — The major Internet backbones and Web sites have not yet shown any major adverse effects from the massive power outage in the Northeast, and Microsoft is successfully withstanding the MSBlast worm attacks and other Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks being launched against its primary Web site for automated updates, according to Keynote Systems (Nasdaq: KEYN), The Internet Performance Authority®. Keynote will continue to monitor Internet performance closely all weekend long. Members of the media should contact the editorial contacts on this release for performance updates and interviews with Keynote executives.
Keynote is monitoring all the major U.S. Internet backbones from the 25 largest U.S. metropolitan areas and so far no major Internet performance difficulties have emerged during the outage and major Web sites remain accessible and are responding at normal performance levels.
The primary Microsoft Web site used for automated software updates by the Windows system, windowsupdate.microsoft.com, continues to be available despite the attacks on Microsoft.
However, other Microsoft Web sites were apparently attacked, starting at 11:30pm EDT August 14. Microsoft spokesman Sean Sundwall has been quoted as saying that the Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks launched at that time against Microsoft's primary home page, www.microsoft.com, had nothing to do with the MSBlast worm. (Keynote's measurements from the 25 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. show that Microsoft's primary Web site, www.microsoft.com, had availability problems starting at 11:30 pm August 14, EDT, when availability plunged to below 25%, eventually declining to zero availability. The Web site began to return to service at 3:15 am August 15, EDT and has now returned to better than 90% availability.).
The Following Statements May be Attributed to Keynote Executives:
On the Blackout:
"As is true of the telephone system, the Internet and major Web sites have been engineered with redundancy and backup power systems to withstand power outages. However, this may change if emergency power generation facilities at some Internet switching centers or telephone centers begin to fail because of the extended outage."
Eris Siegel
Principal Internet Consultant
Keynote Systems, Inc.
On the Blaster Worm:
"Microsoft has taken several steps to diffuse the various attacks, and these steps have been reasonably successful so far in protecting the primary Microsoft Web site used for automated software updates. First, Microsoft has completely deleted the Internet address for "windowsupdate.com" from the Internet's directory system. Therefore, the MSBlast worm, which tries to attack "windowsupdate.com," cannot find the Web site and does not launch its attack. Fortunately, the actual name used for automated Windows software updates is slightly different than the name used by the MSBlast worm, and that name remains in the Internet's directory system. The automated Windows software update mechanism can still find the appropriate Microsoft site.”
"Second, Microsoft has distributed its major Web sites across many different server computers in many different locations. Therefore, any attack, regardless of whether it's launched by the MSBlast worm or by independent hackers launching Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, is being dissipated by being spread across many different servers in different locations. That decreases the load on any individual server and on any particular geographic portion of the Internet."
On the Blackout and the Worm:
“Neither the attacks nor the power problems in the Northeast are affecting the Internet as a whole.”
Lloyd Taylor
Vice President of Technology & Operations
Keynote Systems, Inc.
Internet performance is displayed in real-time on the Keynote Internet Health Report, which is a standard tool used by major Internet Service Providers. The free version of that report is available at http://www.internethealthreport.com.
Members of the media wishing to receive Keynote updates on Internet performance or when major Web site outages occur should email the editorial contacts on this press release stating your press affiliation, phone number and email address.
About Keynote
Keynote Systems (Nasdaq: KEYN), The Internet Performance Authority®, is the global leader in Internet performance management and testing services that improve the quality of e-business. Keynote’s services enable corporate enterprises to benchmark, diagnose, test and manage their e-business systems both inside and outside the firewall. Approximately 2,300 corporate IT departments and 15,400 individual subscribers rely on the company’s easy-to-use and cost-effective services to optimize revenues and reduce downtime costs without requiring additional complex and costly software implementations.
Keynote Systems, Inc. was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in San Mateo, California. The company can be reached at www.keynote.com or by phone in the U.S. at 650-403-2400.
© 2003 Keynote Systems, Inc. Keynote and The Internet Performance Authority are registered trademarks of Keynote. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Contacts:
Dan Berkowitz, Keynote Systems, Inc., (650) 403-3305, dberkowitz@keynote.com
Della Lowe, Keynote Systems, Inc., (650) 403-3233, dlowe@keynote.com