[Turk82_1]

This sounds VERY urban legendish. It is highly unlikely for one server to take down "Millions of websites". OTOH, millions of hits, widely distributed, can take down one website. This is called a a Distributed Denial of Service, or DDOS attack.

I believe your "inside confidential source" might have his cause and effect switched.

Scenario 1. Did the DMAT server choke? Maybe. If so, then it was brought down, recovered, and came back up with little fanfare.

Scenario 2. Did "millions of websites" go down? No - there would have been a HUGE outcry about it.

Scenario 3. This is an example of disinformation. This is possible, given the misspellings, stilted language, and incorrect capitalizations in the original posting.

Scenario 4. The poster is simply mistaken. Most likely.

Verdict: I go with Scenario 4.

[blogbat]

The source is a very reliable first-hand one. I received the information directly and will stick my reputation by it.

By definition a DDoS is distributed and uses countless zombies to unleash its payload. I am not aware if such would be controlled through the DMAT server, though "DDoS" is assumed on my part (never stated by the source) due to the scale of the attacks and I think rightly so.

If I can find more out, I will pass it along.

[NJ_gent]

"This sounds VERY urban legendish. It is highly unlikely for one server to take down "Millions of websites"."

That's exactly what I was thinking, and your four points are right-on, especially #2. If this had really happened, there would be no lid big enough to keep it off every tech site on the web. This is one of those spooky-scary types of stories that use a bit of mysterious language and official-sounding names to give it validity in the minds of the less-informed. Until I see a dozen or so tech sites with this sitting on their front page, it's a wastebasket story on par with CBS's finest in journalism excellence.

[Prime Choice]

This sounds VERY urban legendish. It is highly unlikely for one server to take down "Millions of websites".

Not only does it sound urban-legendish, it's starting to smell like pure Bravo Sierra. Nothing of the sort shows up in The Internet Traffic Report, The Internet Health Report, The Internet Storm Center, or any other net-tracking center.