If this is really the biggest DDOS attack in known history, its kind of a low bar. The amount of data used to initiate it (given that its an amplification attack) could easy be as low as 50-500 machines with 30-3Mbit/s connections. As described in a earlier article about ratters, (http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/03/rat-breeders-meet...) 500 machine is easy achieved daily by an infected torrent, and torrent users tend to have good connections.
Or they could be bought from a botnet for a handful amount of cash. 500 machines, even if it would mean 500 new machines each hour, is still pocket cash. Either the Internet is very weak and will break because of 500 machines, or this attack is not worthy a title of "The DDoS that almost broke the Internet".
Or they could be bought from a botnet for a handful amount of cash. 500 machines, even if it would mean 500 new machines each hour, is still pocket cash. Either the Internet is very weak and will break because of 500 machines, or this attack is not worthy a title of "The DDoS that almost broke the Internet".