Sens. Wyden, Schatz request information on recent Federal Communications Commission cyberattack

U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Brian Schatz (D-HI) recently sent a public letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai requesting information on the reported distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) cyberattack on the FCC’s website and the ability of the agency to defend itself against future threats.

DDoS attacks work by flooding a particular machine or network with a high number of requests, leaving the system overloaded, which prevents legitimate requests from being connected.

In a series of bulleted questions, the senators sought information regarding the details of the attack, including the amount of malicious traffic the FCC network received during the attack, and if Pai had any evidence suggesting which actors may have been responsible.

The senators’ inquiry also sought information on any possible effects the cyberattack might have had on the public’s ability to comment on a recent proposal to roll back the reclassification of internet service providers under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934, commonly referred to as net neutrality.

The letter also asked if the FCC was using any commercially-available services to detect and protect itself against DDoS attacks and if it had sought assistance from other federal agencies in investigating and responding to the incident.

“DDoS attacks against federal agencies are serious – and doubly so if the attack may have prevented Americans from being able to weigh in on your proposal to roll back net neutrality protections,” the senators wrote. “Any potentially hostile cyber activities that prevent Americans from being able to participate in a fair and transparent process must be treated as a serious issue.”