NIC.LV: Difference between revisions

In June 2010, the anti-spam organization [[Spamhaus]] added a chunk of Latvian IP addresses to its anti-spam list. In line with their common practices, Spamhaus contacted the abuser -- which, in this case, most notably included a small [[ISP]] called Microlines -- to ask them to take down the relevant servers. When they received no response, Spamhaus added Microlines' IP range to their blocklist. Escalation procedures followed, including the use of [[RIPE]] data to discover the source of the spam. It was discovered that a larger ISP called [[Latnet Serviss]] was routing Microlines' traffic, and Spamhaus then added Latnet's IP range to the blocklist, not knowing that Latnet had outsourced the management of its abuse department to the University of Latvia's Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science. This resulted in an IP block of many significant websites, and subsequent outrage from NIC.lv, who shared that "thousands of Internet users -- academic users, state and municipal institutions, non-profit organizations, companies, and individuals" were cut off. Spamhaus, on the other hand, said it was merely following normal procedures after seeing an increase in spam and [[DDoS]] traffic. Spamhaus founder, Steve Linford, issued a statement saying that NIC.lv and Latnet were negligent in their handling of the situation, while NIC.lv called for an independent adjudicator to mediate the situation.<ref name="botnet">[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/08/13/spamhaus_latvia/ Rise in Latvian botnets prompts Spamhaus row]. The Register. Published 2010 August 13. Retrieved 2012 November 15.</ref>