Many popular websites this past October experienced one of the biggest cyberattacks in history. Around 7:00 am on Friday, October 21, 2016, the DNY, an internet performance management company, experienced an attack three times by hackers who used a DDOS attack to target a single system causing a Denial of Service (DoS) attack. This attack filled popular websites with traffic that caused normal services to be disrupted. Initially disrupting the East Coast, this widespread cyberattack limited internet users from accessing many websites such as Twitter, Netflix, Tumblr, Amazon, PayPal, Reddit, and Spotify for several hours, to only name a few. Not only did these companies lose millions of dollars through the widespread loss of users, but they also targeted numerous other websites, naming this cyberattack the biggest in history.

With the FBI investigating the causes and people behind the attack, some have claimed responsibility for the attack but the source is not yet confirmed. Security experts who are figuring out the cause of the attack, have identified that the attackers did rely on a Mirai, a simple program that allows hackers to to launch the DDOS attacks and disrupt these websites all at once.

The effects of the cyberattack were felt nationwide until about 9:30 am ET when they finally ceased. The attack caused many customers of the popular websites such as Amazon and Paypal to experience possible complications of their personal address and credit card informations. Many government agencies including the FBI and Central Intelligence Agency are working to find the attackers and are attempting to prevent these cyberattacks in the future for the safety of the American people and profitable companies.