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Refresher course: What to do when Twitter is down

Twitter tanked Thursday. The outage, caused by a targeted denial-of-service attack, had ripple effects continuing into the evening. I wasn't able to post a tweet with a link in it.

I was reminded of an era not long ago, when it was more newsworthy that Twitter was up. In an homage to those less-stable days, I thought I'd outline some of the better alternatives we can take advantage of during those moments Twitter isn't cooperating.

Other options

FriendFeed is the first place to start when Twitter is down. Although it's designed to track updates to all your social networks, it's a fine communication platform itself. The site will let you chat it up about important topics, follow other friends' many social-networking updates, and more. It's an ideal alternative to Twitter.

But if you're looking for something a little more Twitter-like, there are several options. You can try out Plurk. It's a nice platform, but beware that there are very few users on the site. If people are updating their friends about their lives, they're not doing it on Plurk.

That said, it does provide a really neat timeline display and a unique way to spread your feelings. Instead of giving you full control over your message, it asks you to use one of several keywords, including love, like, wishes, hates, gives, and more. It's not bad.… Read more

Week in review: Antisocial networking

Social media site Twitter wasn't always friendly to users this week.

The microblogging tool was inaccessible for several hours on Thursday morning, followed by a period of slowness and sporadic time-outs (and more outright downtime). Twitter blamed an "ongoing" denial-of-service attack, but initially had little more to say. Social-networking site Facebook has also confirmed that it was targeted by a DoS attack that rendered some of its features slow or nonfunctional.

The denial-of-service attack was apparently the result of a coordinated attack on a Russian activist blogger with accounts on Twitter, Facebook, LiveJournal, Google's Blogger, and … Read more

FAQ: The ins and outs of DoS attacks

Thursday's denial-of-service attack that knocked Twitter offline for a few hours and affected Facebook, LiveJournal, and Google Sites and Blogger wasn't your average attack.

Typically, someone who has a bone to pick with a specific Web site will round up some hijacked PCs and use them to try to shut the site down. In this case, whoever was responsible was trying to block access to a specific user's accounts and not the sites themselves.

Denial-of-service attacks aren't always straight forward and this one has its own unique twist. Let's take a look at what happened … Read more

Podcast: Twitter attacker had Georgia in mind

CNET security and privacy reporter Elinor Mills, who has been reporting on the Twitter, Facebook, and Google denial of service attacks since early Thursday morning, interviewed a Facebook executive who told her that the attacks appeared not to be aimed at Twitter or Facebook but toward an individual person who blogs about independence of a breakaway region of Georgia. But even though it was aimed at one person, the sheer size of the attack was enough to bring down Twitter and impact Facebook.

The podcast runs 4 minutes and 53 seconds.

Twitter, Facebook attack targeted one user

A Georgian blogger with accounts on Twitter, Facebook, LiveJournal, and Google's Blogger and YouTube was targeted in a denial-of-service attack that led to the sitewide outage at Twitter and problems at the other sites on Thursday, according to a Facebook executive.

The blogger, who uses the account name "Cyxymu," (the name of a town in the Republic of Georgia) had accounts on all of the different sites that were attacked at the same time, Max Kelly, chief security officer at Facebook, told CNET News.

"It was a simultaneous attack across a number of properties targeting him … Read more

CNET News Daily Podcast: DoS attacks hit Twitter, Facebook

CNET News reporter Caroline McCarthy talks about the denial-of-service attacks that hit Twitter, Facebook, and possibly other sites Thursday morning. That, and other headlines of the day, on the CNET News Daily Podcast.

Today's stories:

Twitter crippled by denial-of-service attack

Amazon glitch ditches international-shipment option

Microsoft snaps up Office.com domain

Is Adobe the next (pre-2002) Microsoft?

Adobe kills low-end Photoshop, urges users online

San Diego to test mobile electric-car charger

New Apple patent means no more microwaving your iPod

Could you be responsible for the Twitter outage?

Of course you're not personally responsible for bringing down Twitter, but if your computer isn't equipped with up-to-date anti-malware software and the latest version of your operating system, you could unwittingly be part of the problem.

Twitter has confirmed that its outage Thursday morning and subsequent intermittent problems were due to an ongoing denial-of-service attack. Facebook also "encountered network issues related to an apparent distributed denial-of-service attack, that resulted in degraded service for some users," according to a company spokesperson.

Typically a DoS attack, which is often called a distributed denial-of-service attack, results when multiple computers … Read more

Crowded roads ahead for charity 2.0

Way back in February, the Web's elite were all abuzz over the "Twestivals," a series of events around the world that were organized online to benefit Charity Water, an otherwise small nonprofit organization that funds the construction of wells in developing countries. They ranged from small in-home gatherings to massive nightclub bashes, but there was one general, common hook: spread the word, donate, and tweet about it.

Months later, with Twitter practically bursting at the seams, is this strategy still sustainable?

One part fundraiser and one part publicity blitz, the big-picture hook of "Twestival" was … Read more

Some tweets now out of bounds at ESPN

For ESPN, the social-networking revolution will not be televised--or tweeted, blogged, or Facebooked. Not for now, at least, and not without ESPN's approval.

The sports network has apparently banned its workforce from posting any sports-related content on social-networking tools such as Twitter and Facebook without its permission. The news first came to light Tuesday when Ric Bucher, an NBA analyst for ESPN, tweeted that he had just received an network memo regarding tweeting:

The hammer just came down, tweeps: ESPN memo prohibiting tweeting info unless it serves ESPN. Kinda figured with was coming. Not sure what this means but … Read more