Coordination Center, said in a recorded statement. "The www.cert.org
Web site may be unavailable until the attack begins to subside."
By midday Wednesday, the site was once again fully accessible.
Although the attack prevented anyone from accessing the security
advisories on CERT's Web site, the Center said it was able to get the word
out on critical alerts.
"We have alternate means to issue advisories as it becomes
necessary," Finlay said in the statement.
Chris Wysopal, director of research and development for security
service firm @Stake, said CERT's predicament was ironic.
"They are the people that tell you how to protect against the
problems," he said. "But the fact is, no one can totally protect
against these types of attack."
The attack also underscored the risk of putting the United States'
computer-alert teams under one umbrella.
"It highlights the fact that we need many different sources of
security info," Wysopal said. "When all the information becomes
too centralized, that's a security problem in and of itself."
While CERT is an important security advisory group, several others
exist, including the