The website of Virus Truth and political party in formation Free and Social Netherlands (VSN) went offline last weekend. Both sites were hit by a DDoS attack. At the time of writing, both sites cannot be visited. Behind the scenes everything is being done to repel the DDoS attack, the webmaster who manages both sites confirms to NU.nl.
DoS stands for denial of service. It is a type of attack in which a hacker deliberately tries to cripple a computer network or server by flooding it with a large amount of connection requests or data. Sooner or later, the network or server becomes overloaded, with the result that it can no longer respond to legitimate requests. Internet traffic then becomes extremely slow, or even drops completely. You can compare it to a slow-moving or stalled traffic jam that keeps getting longer and longer.
A DoS attack can theoretically be set up by a single person, such as when a Web site administrator is stress-testing to see if his site can withstand large amounts of traffic. To set up an effective attack that cripples servers, a botnet is commonly used: a network of infected computers, also known as zombies. Botnets usually consist of thousands of computers worldwide and are controlled by a bot master or bot administrator. If the administrator orders all the computers in his network to attack a server simultaneously, it is called a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS).
A botmaster can launch a DDoS attack for several reasons. He may cause damage to the target with his attack (think of a web shop going offline). Sometimes they do it for ideological reasons or an underlying sense of justice, such as if oil company has lost oil in the ocean and is damaging marine life and ecosystem. This is also known as hacktivism.
Who are Virus Truth and VSN? Virus Truth, formerly known as Virus Madness, is a group that disagrees with the administration's measures to contain the coronavirus. Willem Engel is the face of this club and has spoken out many times last year against the lockdown, one-and-a-half-meter distance and mouth caps, among other things. Virus Truth coined the hashtag #ikdoenietmeermee, where Dutch celebrities publicly expressed their distaste for the government's corona policy and corona measures.
Free and Social Netherlands (VSN) is Bas Filippini's political party with which he plans to run in the March elections to the House of Representatives. Filippini resigned in September last year as chairman of interest group Privacy First. He announced then that he wanted to go into politics. Currently, VSN is in the phase of officially establishing his political party. Filippini has already registered his party name with the Electoral Council, the body that organizes elections. He has until February 1 at the latest to pay a deposit of 11,250 euros and collect sufficient declarations of support (at least 580 in 20 electoral districts that comprise the Kingdom of the Netherlands).
On Wednesday, January 6, Filippini presented his party to the press. The media did not flock to the presentation, because at the same time in Veghel the first healthcare worker received a shot with the corona vaccine. At the introduction, Filippini talked about "the dictatorship of the Netherlands," "mega-profits of pharma giants," "widespread systemic corruption" and "a non-functioning rule of law," among other things, according to the Algemeen Dagblad. "I think 35 seats are real for us, many people are completely done with it," said the figurehead of the political party in formation.
The presentation also included some names on VSN's candidate list. One of them is Willem Engel of Virus Truth. However, VSN is not affiliated with the group, Filippini told NU.nl. His position as Virus Truth foreman should be seen separately from his role as an aspiring politician, according to Filippini.
Whether Engel's ambition to serve in the House of Representatives is related to the DDoS attack on Virus Truth and VSN websites is unclear. Who is responsible for the attacks is also unknown.
