Is the US in danger from DDOS attacks?

I would appreciate it if you would share what I am writing here. Have you ever heard of a DDOS attack - it's a Distributed Denial Of Service. Basically, thousands of computer send simultaneous requests to a single server, and there are so many requests that the server is unable to respond, and has to shut down until the attack stops.

How does this happen? Computers that are infected with zombie bots that have been programmed to attack when instructed by the programmer. These programs often call home to get instructions, or act like a Trojan Horse and have a date and victim embedded in their programming.

I would hope that most people already have good virus protection, and malware protection, that should hopefully be able to spot these bots and kill them before they can do any harm. However, if you don't have virus protection (a lot of Mac owners are under the false impression that they are impregnable), or your virus definitions are out of date, or you are using high speed Internet without a hardware firewall or a software firewall, your computer could be a host for one of these bots. I would also recommend a software firewall that will alert you to any programs trying to make outgoing requests that are not on an allowed list.

Why am I posting this? I am posting this because a server where two of my domains are hosted is under attack. This is the second DDOS attack within the past month. It's too late for poor server 45, but, it's not too late to make sure your computer is not hosting zombie bots.

In 2007, Estonia was the victim of a DDOS attack that brought the country to its knees. That's an entire COUNTRY, not just a server. That's what I worry about. Although conventional warfare is nasty, a large scale DDOS attack on this country would severely cripple us - imagine not being able to get your email, surf the web, watch Netflix, text your friends and co-workers, and all the other things we now find essential. Making sure that your computer is secure, with the latest patches for all your software is a step in keeping our country safe.

Please share this with your friends, family, co-workers and neighbors.http://my.opera.com/arbpen/blog/2012/08/10/ddos-wh...