I Can Meet with Dead Scientists-Chapter 329 - 193: Collaboration Between 2 Top Elite Academies (6.6K)_3

The target of this attack is the online code management service iuxilua inside the National Science University, involving some internal research documents.

The attackers did not involve a botnet, but instead exploited an amplification effect of a popular database caching system called memcached.

Eventually, they flooded the memcached server with deceptive requests, amplifying their attack by thousands, even tens of thousands of times.

This is a relatively novel attack method, with high technical demands that currently only a limited number of individuals can accomplish.

"Damn it..."

Xiang Haihua blocked a POST request attack with a command once again, as a bead of sweat trickled down his forehead.

Amidst his anger and frustration, he was also intensely puzzled:

Where the hell are these attacks coming from?

What is their purpose?

If there's any crucial project at the National Science University, the cybersecurity center theoretically must be notified in such cases, it can't be kept secret even from the center.

It's one thing for outsiders to be deceived, but it's unheard of to deceive insiders as well.

It doesn't make sense...

However, just as this thought flashed by, Xiang Haihua felt the enemy's attacks intensified...

As he gritted his teeth and persevered, a bespectacled engineering expert, standing four or five meters away, suddenly shouted:

"Director Xiang, there's a situation!"

Xiang Haihua's heart skipped a beat. The expert who spoke up was Wu Jiao, his long-time partner, who rarely acted out of composure.

Then, he irritably scratched his dense black hair, asking:

"What's the situation?"

Wu Jiao was silent for a moment, a hint of astonishment flitted across his face, as he pointed at the screen and said:

"It seems... it seems someone is intercepting the attack traffic!"

Upon hearing this.

Xiang Haihua's fingers ceased their rapid typing on the keyboard:

"What did you say?"

Wu Jiao observed the data seriously again, confirming:

"That's right, someone is intercepting the information attacking us, the RPS is dropping, 7557...7210...6835..."

As he spoke, Wu Jiao seemed to notice something else.

He pressed a hand firmly against his headset, his voice suddenly heightening:

"Wait, they also have our system keys, there's an external bandwidth provider connecting to a high-level IP!!!"

Xiang Haihua's pupils contracted instantly, and a phrase burst out of his mouth:

"They have the system keys? Is it the Science Institute intervening?"

Gulp—

Wu Jiao's Adam's apple bobbed a few times as he shook his head.

His expression turned peculiar as he said:

"It's not the Science Institute, they didn't hide their internet switch IP, they are from... Lu Prefecture."

"Lu Prefecture?"

Upon hearing this place name.

Xiang Haihua instinctively opened his mouth, but eventually said nothing.

Across all of Huaxia.

Apart from the core inner circles, only two entities possess the National Science University's administrative system keys:

The Chinese Academy of Sciences, and...

USTC.

The Science Institute is in Yanjing, and USTC is in Lu Prefecture.

Thus, the source of reinforcements was clear.

Xiang Haihua graduated from Beiyu, so he had no emotional ties between USTC and the National Science University.

But he was acquainted with Wang Qingchen; their relationship was neither good nor bad.

There was no deep animosity, but they often competed while with the Red Alliance, both pursuing the hacker beauty from the Red Alliance, Luo Yue Yinghui, unsuccessfully.

Ironically, after being recruited, the two became cyber security directors of two universities.

Their past and their current affiliations made their relationship more intricate.

Knowing his old rival had helped him, it was impossible for Xiang Haihua not to feel something.

But thoughts were just thoughts, and the current situation was still critical, leaving no room for sentimentality.

Therefore, shortly.

Xiang Haihua refocused his attention on the defense and offense of the National Science University's system.

With the help from USTC, a significant amount of data attacks were intercepted and sniped.

The pressure on the National Science University's cybersecurity center immediately lessened considerably.

Xiang Haihua and others began to calmly patch vulnerabilities and self-check for potential viruses.

Given the special circumstances, Xiang Haihua straightforwardly chose to block any web requests with "Ping-To" and "Ping-From" HTTP headers.

And so.

As each second ticked by.

The system deficiency degree of the National Science University recovered from a peak of 39% to 48% gradually.

Then to 61%...

75%...

88%...

Finally...

When a script bypassed an XSS vulnerability.

The system finally returned to...

100%.

Seeing this scenario.

Xiang Haihua instantly relaxed his shoulders, ruffling his thick black hair, and exhaled deeply.

Although the administrative system suffered severe losses, student complaints would surely be abundant.

But at least the database above associate professor level was not breached, and the school only needed to appease the internal students.

If worse came to worst, adding 0.1 to the GPA would surely make them forget immediately.

However, just as Xiang Haihua's thoughts drifted.

A task log suddenly appeared in front of him.

The contents of the log were simple, starting with two IP addresses.

One of them was Neon.

The other was somewhat unfamiliar to Xiang Haihua, and it took him a moment to recall it was Australia.

And below the two IP addresses, there was a very simple letter:

[fb, go?]

Seeing these words.

Xiang Haihua's eyes widened immediately.

Here, fb was not an abbreviation for Facebook, its full spelling was fightback.

Which translates to Chinese as...

Counterattack!

It was evident.

Wang Qingchen's side not only repelled the attack but also traced the attackers!

This log appeared not only on Xiang Haihua's screen but also in front of every cyber security expert's computer.