In an attempt to restore service, the Scottish government is using its powers to force ISPs to provide the Internet service it says is “essential” for the public.
The government says the D3 blackout, which started Dec. 17 and affected a staggering 75% of Scotland’s population, is forcing people to “choose between a life of deprivation and homelessness,” and that “there is no longer any hope” for a smooth transition for many of them.
The DDoS, which was a coordinated effort by Russia, the United States, Ukraine, and others, is being blamed for slowing down parts of the Internet and blocking services, as well as causing widespread disruption to online banking and other services.
But the government is also warning that the attack is being used as a “test case” for what could happen in the future.
The Scottish government said it had issued orders requiring ISPs to reroute traffic in a “preventative manner” to prevent the attacks from spreading.
The Government said the D4 blackout had left “significant economic, social, and political damage to Scotland and the wider UK,” and it was “trying to restore services as quickly as possible.”
“This is a case study for what happens when the internet is shut down,” said the Scottish Government’s Communications Minister Derek Mackay.
“This is not a response to any threat.
This is a response because we cannot take the chance that the next attack could be more sophisticated and more effective.”
The D3 attack was the largest attack on the Internet since the Great Storm of 2013, when it caused massive damage across the United Kingdom.
In a separate incident, on Dec. 9, 2014, Ukraine’s military claimed responsibility for a massive DDoS that affected more than half the country.
It was a cyberattack that took advantage of a flaw in the Tor network, which allows people to cloak their online activity with anonymity, allowing it to evade detection by governments and authorities.
The attack was so powerful that it forced the governments of many European countries to ban the use of the browser.