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"Websites run by dissidents and human rights activists around the world have a new ally in the fight against oppressive regimes: Google.\nTo defend against the growing threat of cyberattacks, and specifically Distributed Denial of Service attacks (DDoS), which can take down a site with a massive stream of malicious traffic, Google has launched Project Shield. The new tool protects sites from being taken offline, allowing them to serve their content through Google's infrastructure.\nSee also: Syrian Electronic Army Attacks Linked to Obama's Mentions of Syria\nThe tool, unveiled on Monday at the Google Ideas Summit in New York, N.Y., is designed specifically for websites that operate in high-risk conflict zones, where governments might try to take down websites that broadcast anti-government information, or help dissidents organize. In other words, Project Shield could serve to protect online activists in Syria, Egypt and other countries where the Internet is under government control.\n\"DDoS attacks allow anyone to purchase someone else's silence,\" C.J. Adams, an associate at the Google Ideas think tank, said during the launch of the tool. \"That hurts the Internet and it hurts free expression online.\"\nAdams used the example of Aymta, a site that alerts Syrians when a scud missile is launched, calculating the area where it could land. The website, developed by Dlshad Othman, a hacker and Syrian activist, was targeted and taken down by the Syrian government with a DDoS attack in July. \n\"Government malicious actors know that that's how this works so they design attacks specifically to take away information at the points were it's needed the most,\" Adams said. \nOften, those access points are in the hands of small organizations with very limited means.\n\"There are so many organizations that need this sort of protection,\" said Scott Carpenter, the deputy director of Google Ideas, in an interview with Mashable. \"And they are very small, they are very easy to knock offline.\"\nProject Shield combines Google's own internal anti-DDoS mitigation technologies and its Page Speed Service (PSS), a paid service that allows websites to serve content through Google.\nGoogle is now inviting webmasters involved in sensitive websites, like those run by human rights organizations, or independent news sites in conflict zones, to apply to become the project's first round of \"trusted testers.\" They will be able to use the tool free of charge, although Google may start charging in the future. \nAt the summit, Google also unveiled an interactive digital map of DDoS attacks around the world. The map, developed in collaboration with security firm Arbor Networks, shows current attacks as well as past ones dating back to June 1, 2013. The site allows visitors to see where the attacks are purportedly coming from, how intense they are, and it also aggregates news articles related to the attacks.\nHave something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.\nImage: KIMIHIRO HOSHINO/AFP/GettyImages"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2013/10/21/google-project-shield/>