Chairman Wheeler: ISPs Have Ability to Deal With DDoS Attacks

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler says that the FCC's Open Internet order does give Internet service providers the ability to deal with the distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks like the one that hit Twitter, Netflix and other sites Oct 21.

At a press conference following the Oct. 27 public meeting, Chairman Wheeler said that given that the order allows for reasonable network management, ISPs "clearly" have leeway "to deal with issues like this." That came in response to a letter from Sen Mark Warner (D-VA)—Chairman Wheeler also said he would be officially responding—raising concerns that the Open Internet order might restrict that response, particularly given the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) connected devices. FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai, speaking after the Chairman, said he would be willing to work with Sen Warner's staff to "try to get to the bottom of this" but said he thought the FCC's role on cybersecurity should primarily be as a consultant.