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Two days ago Twitter was knocked off line by a large scale DDoS attack and although back online, the site is still under attack and fighting to keep from being knocked offline again. Some of the steps they’ve taken have affected third party apps that use Twitter’s API. As a result users using those apps are blocked from using the service and in addition, users may encounter difficulty in posting to their accounts via text message.  Facebook and Blogger were also attacked and suffered significant slow downs.

It has been discovered that the attack is apparently been aimed at a single user.  A Georgian blogger named Cyxymu, who uses Twitter, Facebook and Blogger to express his anti-Russian views, is the cause of all the trouble hitting the three popular sites.  He has as of now not had any comment about the situation.

Twitter is working hard to find a solution that doesn’t harm third party apps or text messaging, but has made it clear that until the attack ceases they can not make any promises that things will get better or won’t get worse.  They are effectively stuck at the moment, and doing everything they can to keep the site up and running.

One of the suggested solutions is to block all traffic intended for Cyxymu so that it won’t consume more than its share of bandwidth or processing power.  While he has a right to free speech and to use Twitter and Facebook to share his views with others, should a single user be allowed to have such a detrimental affect on a network that serves millions?  Should his traffic be blocked or account shut down all together, or would that simply be giving the attackers what they want?  Please leave a comment and share your thoughts with us.

Read [PCWorld]