Oh no, you're thinking, yet another cookie pop-up. Well, sorry, it's the law. We measure how many people read us, and ensure you see relevant ads, by storing cookies on your device. If you're cool with that, hit “Accept all Cookies”. For more info and to customize your settings, hit “Customize Settings”.

Review and manage your consent

Here's an overview of our use of cookies, similar technologies and how to manage them. You can also change your choices at any time, by hitting the “Your Consent Options” link on the site's footer.

Manage Cookie Preferences
  • These cookies are strictly necessary so that you can navigate the site as normal and use all features. Without these cookies we cannot provide you with the service that you expect.

  • These cookies are used to make advertising messages more relevant to you. They perform functions like preventing the same ad from continuously reappearing, ensuring that ads are properly displayed for advertisers, and in some cases selecting advertisements that are based on your interests.

  • These cookies collect information in aggregate form to help us understand how our websites are being used. They allow us to count visits and traffic sources so that we can measure and improve the performance of our sites. If people say no to these cookies, we do not know how many people have visited and we cannot monitor performance.

See also our Cookie policy and Privacy policy.

This article is more than 1 year old

Is security outfit Norse Corp dead or just temporarily TITSUP?

'Imploding' says Brian Krebs

Security startup Norse Corp has gone ominously dark.

The outfit, famous for picking scabs from FreeBSD and mesmerising users with a “live DDoS map”, isn't contactable on the Web right now.

Early in January, The Register reported layoffs in the business, amounting to as much as half its staff at the time.

Now, Brian Krebs reports that the CEO had been asked to step down, replaced by board member Howard Bain and he speculates that a forced merger might be on the cards.

The company was also accused of faking some of its attack data, with Dragos Security's Robert Lee saying it had invented Iranian attack numbers in 2015.

Lee wrote in Christian Science Monitor that Norse "made claims of 500,000 attacks on industrial control systems by Iran in the past 24 months although only 47 of those were targeted against US Internet addresses.

"The report was confusing but the data clearly revealed that the "attacks" from Iranian Internet addresses were actually Internet scans from locations such as Iranian universities and hospitals," he continued.

Krebs quotes former Norse Corp data scientist Mary Landesman as saying the data behind the attack map was “disappointing”.

“The data isn’t great, and it’s pretty much the same thing as if you looked at Web server logs that had automated crawlers and scanning tools hitting it constantly,” Krebs quotes Landesman. “But if you know how to look at it and bring in a bunch of third-party data and tools, the data is not without its merits, if not just based on the sheer size of it.”

With both the company's corporate site and its “attack map” offline, it seems Norse has gone TITSUP (total inability to support usual performance), and Krebs says unnamed sources have told him its assets will be merged with SolarFlare, which shares some of its investors.

Krebs also outlines a history of shell companies behind Norse Corp, stretching back to the late 1990s, along with accusations of misbehaviour The Register isn't in a position to verify. ®

Similar topics

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like