中國網路癱瘓 But why, of all the places in the world, did the traffic come here? And how?

中國網路癱瘓 疑內部作業失誤

〔編譯陳伃軒／綜合報導〕中國二十一日下午三時左右首次發生大規模網路故 障，連中國最大搜尋引擎「百度」也一度停擺，全國有三分之二的電腦網域名稱伺服器（ＤＮＳ）癱瘓長達數小時，引發各界關注。中國官媒稱此次事件可能是遭駭 客攻擊，還把矛頭指向法輪功學員創辦的「動態網」公司。不過，根據路透引述中國消息來源指出，這次網路癱瘓並非駭客所為，最可能的原因是中方技術人員的操 作失誤。
路透的消息來源是熟悉中國政府網路監管人士，並稱是技術人員在調整管制網路的「防火長城」時，出現工程錯誤。稍後中國互聯網絡信息 中心也在微博指稱，經初步分析，是中國國內通用頂級域名的根解析出現問題。若真是人為錯誤，形同是對中國網路監管的最大諷刺，因為只有中國的「防火長城」 能同時癱瘓不同網站的ＤＮＳ，而且這個錯誤還把數千萬中國用戶導向「動態網」的網站。
位於美國北卡羅萊納州的動態網公司（Dynamic Internet Technology），發行能突破中國網路封鎖系統的「自由門」軟體，提供中國網友免費下載，讓他們能透過軟體偽裝成不在中國封鎖名單內的IP，成功 「翻牆」瀏覽遭封鎖網站。其創辦人夏比爾（Bill Xia，譯音）是法輪功學員，其公司也受法輪功報章「大紀元時報」贊助，其服務對象包含美國之音和中國人權網等。
網路癱瘓時，有數千萬用戶在訪問「.com」、「.net」、「.org」等域名為結尾的網站時，被直接跳轉到65.49.2.178的網路位置（IP），該IP為動態網公司所有，因此遭環球時報指控為異常源頭，該報也引述匿名網路安全專家指稱，事件即可能為駭客所為。
此外，環球時報二十二日社論還以「網攻擾亂中國全網系統，這是警鐘」為題，暗指美國發動網路攻擊，文中直指，全球十三台根名稱伺服器有十台位在美國，其網路霸權顯而易見。
據 南華早報報導，夏比爾否認大規模網路癱瘓是支持法輪功的駭客所為，「（當時）我們注意到網站流量突然增長，懷疑受到攻擊……我們的安全系統啟動保護機制， 因此訪客被導航至網站時無法看到任何東西」。他反而認為，網路故障是中國政府的網路審查系統故障或技術操作員失誤所致；回應環球時報的信中則稱，只有中國 的「防火長城」才有能力一次癱瘓這麼多的網站。

Most of China's Web Traffic Wound Up at a Tiny Wyoming House Yesterday

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Yesterday, many of China's 500 million internet users were mysteriously rerouted to a bunch of web addresses registered to this unassuming house in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The New York Times says a fluke in China's internet censoring system was to blame. But why, of all the places in the world, did the traffic come here? And how?

From the looks of things, Chinese internet censors attempted to block access to websites owned by Sophidea Incorporated, which appears to be a re-routing service designed to evade national firewalls. But instead of blocking those sites, they mistakenly ended up blasting them with tons of traffic, and leaving the majority of Chinese internet users unable to access .com, .org, or .net addresses for up to eight hours. Sophidea, it turns out, has its global headquarters in Cheyenne, in the tiny house pictured above. 

It's not the only questionable company operating out of that cute little home. While the house at 2710 Thomes Avenue looks like any other in the suburban neighborhood, on paper it's headquarters to some 2,000 various companies. And most of them are, predictably, kind of shady. In 2011, Reuters found among its residents: a shell company controlled by an imprisoned former Ukraine prime minister, a company that helps online poker sites sneak around gambling bans, and, puzzlingly, a company banned from bidding on government contracts after it sold counterfeit truck equipment to the Pentagon.

The company that owns the internet addresses all that misdirected traffic was shunted to, Sophidea Incorporated, doesn't provide a lot of info about itself, and NYT couldn't find anyone at the company to answer questions.

Maybe they were busy taking the kids to soccer or going to PTA meetings. You know, typical suburban Wyoming stuff. 

Update: The NY Times points out that Sophidea, the Wyoming company that owns the domains where traffic from China was inadvertently sent, has recently moved to a different location in Cheyenne. We originally featured an image of Sophidea's former location, a small house on Thomes Avenue, which we have since updated.