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Nsa.gov is down

nsa.gov

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Re: Nsa.gov is down

#21

Post by gry »

ams6110 wrote: post #13
gry wrote: post #8

It sure is. It's been down for hours. http://www.isitdownrightnow.com/nsa.gov.html Funny thing is, outages for GitHub and its ilk hit HN in minutes. Either way, the transparency in the post-mortem is more valuable and telling than the outage. Organizations need to prove themselves with transparency to build and earn trust. Yet, one of these things is not like the other.

The public nsa.gov site is just another government website. It's not like they're running it out of one of their secret data centers.

Agreed. I commented on the organization. One expects the NSA to provide a sub-par post-mortem.

a) it is the NSA and

b) it is a "marketing" website

I'm not sure what utility www.nsa.gov provides beyond a mission statement. Never was curious before, now I am. :)

--

edit: clarity

Re: Nsa.gov is down

#22

Post by isaacb »

GhotiFish wrote: post #18
8ig8 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hacking the NSA website is not hacking the NSA. Hacking a website is relatively easy and not that interesting to people who deal with servers day-to-day.

Right, see. When you say "Relatively easy" do you mean: "it is just subtly easier that compromising the NSA itself" or: "I'm surprised it doesn't happen every day" because I think you meant the former.

I suspect the difference between hacking the NSA website and hacking the NSA's central computer system is more than subtle

Re: Nsa.gov is down

#23

Post by dmazin »

migrantgeek wrote: post #12

I don't mean to be inflammatory but what's the purpose of HN postings regarding sites being down? I've never actually been to nsa.gov and would have never known it was down. I'm sure most of the readers are in the same boat. Even if I did access the site on a regular basis, I'd realize it was down and come back later when it might be back up. Sometimes my favorite coffee shop is closed. I don't walk around the neighb…

It's exciting for people. To them it's news, not a call for discussion.

Re: Nsa.gov is down

#24

Post by mustapha »

earthrise wrote: post #20

It's www.NSA.gov NOT NSA.gov. www.NSA.gov IS up, at least for me. Edit: I just talked with my American friend and it apparently really is down for them. It works for me up in Canada, though, at 23.6.100.226.

snorts derisively

Re: Nsa.gov is down

#25

Post by yeukhon »

earthrise wrote: post #20

It's www.NSA.gov NOT NSA.gov. www.NSA.gov IS up, at least for me. Edit: I just talked with my American friend and it apparently really is down for them. It works for me up in Canada, though, at 23.6.100.226.

and I get this:

Invalid URL The requested URL "/", is invalid.

Reference #9.c0b31bb8.1382761672.701091f

Re: Nsa.gov is down

#26

Post by earthrise »

yeukhon wrote: post #25
earthrise wrote: post #20

It's www.NSA.gov NOT NSA.gov. www.NSA.gov IS up, at least for me. Edit: I just talked with my American friend and it apparently really is down for them. It works for me up in Canada, though, at 23.6.100.226.

and I get this: Invalid URL The requested URL "/", is invalid. Reference #9.c0b31bb8.1382761672.701091f

Yeah, you have to have 'Host: www.nsa.gov' in your request.

$ telnet 23.6.100.226 80

GET / HTTP/1.1

Host: www.nsa.gov

[press Enter twice]

Or you can add www.nsa.gov with that IP to your hosts file, if you reallllly need access to it.

Re: Nsa.gov is down

#27

Post by yeukhon »

earthrise wrote: post #26
yeukhon wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and I get this: Invalid URL The requested URL "/", is invalid. Reference #9.c0b31bb8.1382761672.701091f

Yeah, you have to have 'Host: www.nsa.gov' in your request. $ telnet 23.6.100.226 80 GET / HTTP/1.1 Host: www.nsa.gov [press Enter twice] Or you can add www.nsa.gov with that IP to your hosts file, if you reallllly need access to it.

right www.nsa.gov is up, but nsa.gov is not.

How is that even possible? Shouldn't browser fill in www anyway?

Re: Nsa.gov is down

#29

Post by chrisbolt »

yeukhon wrote: post #25
earthrise wrote: post #20

It's www.NSA.gov NOT NSA.gov. www.NSA.gov IS up, at least for me. Edit: I just talked with my American friend and it apparently really is down for them. It works for me up in Canada, though, at 23.6.100.226.

and I get this: Invalid URL The requested URL "/", is invalid. Reference #9.c0b31bb8.1382761672.701091f

That reference # is a sign that it's hosted on Akamai.

  $ dnsname 23.6.100.226
  a23-6-100-226.deploy.static.akamaitechnologies.com

Re: Nsa.gov is down

#30

Post by evanlivingston »

zombio wrote: post #2

Mandatory relevant XKCD: http://xkcd.com/932/

The comic, while one of the more notable ones to me, dismissed the issue that the act is subversive, and that's what is important in the case of hackers taking down a website. Furthermore, it downplays the significance somewhat. Graffiti on the white house or pentagon would likely make it to the news.
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