Skype: Microsoft zombie network launched DoS attack
After a postmortem on the meltdown that left millions of Skype users disconnected for two days last week (see “You fool, I said we wanted to see more SkypeOut headlines” and “Sure hope my probation officer buys this ‘deficient algorithm’ excuse“), representatives of the Internet telephony company reaffirmed that the system did not fail because of an attack by malicious software — unless you count Windows.
According to the company blog, “The disruption was triggered by a massive restart of our users’ computers across the globe within a very short timeframe as they re-booted after receiving a routine set of patches through Windows Update. The high number of restarts affected Skype’s network resources. This caused a flood of log-in requests, which, combined with the lack of peer-to-peer network resources, prompted a chain reaction that had a critical impact.” The surge was so strong it herniated a previously unknown weak spot in the network resource allocation algorithm, preventing the self-healing system of the peer-to-peer network from working. Skype reassured users that this particular barn door is now closed, and added, a little defensively, “We would like to point out that very few technologies or communications networks today are guaranteed to operate without interruptions.”
True enough, but what about interruptions that result from a scheduled event that has been occurring once a month for three years now? Each Patch Tuesday, Microsoft sends out its latest batch of fixes, and the millions of Windows machines dutifully download and reboot. What was different in this case? That’s just one of the issues that still need to be addressed if Skype and its owner, eBay, hope to rebuild trust.
Perhaps we should now regard micros**t as less of an “operating system”and more like a pernicious virus?
poop.
trust is not an issue. Its a great system, problem notwithstanding. btw, I didn’t see a problem, and my pc rebooted with all the others, I presume. I’m really getting tired of those who’s job seems to be finding fault and speculating disaster. Skype works. Its cheap. Its clear. and I have more problems accessing the web (ISP failures without either acknowledgment or explanation) in the past month with Comcast than I’ve had in 2 years with Skype.
more to read on http://www.skype-watch.com … nice perspective you got there John. I have quoted your article.
“The surge was so strong it herniated a previously unknown weak spot in the network resource allocation algorithm, preventing the self-healing system of the peer-to-peer network from working.”
…herniated a previously unknown weak spot in the network resource…
So essentially, Patch Tuesday cause Skype to bust a gut?