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Wikileaks website back online after DDoS cyber-attack | Wikileaks website back online after DDoS cyber-attack |
(40 minutes later) | |
The whistle-blowing website Wikileaks is back online after being disrupted by a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack for more than a week. | The whistle-blowing website Wikileaks is back online after being disrupted by a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack for more than a week. |
The website said it had been flooded with 10 gigabits per second of traffic, making it slow and unresponsive. | The website said it had been flooded with 10 gigabits per second of traffic, making it slow and unresponsive. |
DDoS attacks work by overwhelming websites, clogging network connections and making servers unavailable. | |
Wikileaks noted that a group calling itself Anti Leaks had said it was behind the attack. | |
Wikileaks' founder Julian Assange is in Ecuador's London embassy, seeking political asylum. | |
Mr Assange is trying to avoid extradition to Sweden over rape and assault claims, which he denies. | |
He faces arrest for breaching the terms of his bail if he leaves the embassy. | |
Trapwire connection | |
Wikileaks Press, a Wikileaks-endorsed website that publishes news about the organisation, noted that the attack had started shortly after emails were leaked about surveillance by software company Trapwire. | |
The firm collects data from CCTV cameras and number plate readers in a bid to forecast acts of terrorism. | |
The emails were obtained after a hack of US-based intelligence company Stratfor. | |
Wikileaks started publishing millions of emails from Stratfor in February. Many were related to US government agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security and the Defense Intelligence Agency. | |
But the site was hit by a DDoS attack after it leaked documents about Trapwire earlier this month. | |
"Yes, Wikileaks revealed a whole bunch of documents on #Trapwire, no, you can't read them easily, because of the current DDoS attack," Wikileaks tweeted. | |
"Attacks on #Wikileaks are not only intended to prevent secrets from being revealed, but also to maintain a monopoly on influence," said the website in another tweet. |
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