Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2000/03/07/friendly_ddos_takes_out_ntl/

Friendly DDoS takes out NTL site

Popularity -- it's a double-edged sword

By Tim Richardson

Posted in On-Prem, 7th March 2000 14:33 GMT

Update NTL's Web site fell over earlier this afternoon but appears to be up and running again. NTL.co.uk went belly-up no doubt from friendly distributed denial of service (DDoS) fire from Net users eager to find out more about its new unmetered Net access package. Users trying to access the site are faced with the message: "HTTP/1.1 Server Too Busy." Now the site is working again, one Reg reader tried to sign up for the service. "Finally got through to www.ntl.co.uk and started to complete their new free unmetered access questionnaire on their other Web site, www.askntl.co.uk, but finally, after more than ten minutes of waiting whilst going through page after page of one line answers, we were finally confronted on the last page with... 'HTTP Error 403 403.9 Access Forbidden: Too many users are connected 'This error can be caused if the Web server is busy and cannot process your request due to heavy traffic. Please try to connect again later. 'Please contact the Web server's administrator if the problem persists.'" And this from the company that says it will overtake Freeserve within the year. ® Related Stories Freeserve in NTL's sights Blair hails NTL Free Everything ISP plans It's first come, first served: AltaVista Telewest to offer unlimited Net access