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The WikiLeaks website was down yesterday, the same day it released sensitive US cables from the US Secret Internet Protocol Router Network, because of a Distributed Denial of Service attack (DDoS) it reported in twitter posts.
The cables became headline news late Sunday UK time despite the attack, with WikLeaks targeting key media around the world for the documents’ distribution.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange had warned the website was at risk because of the anticipated launch before the documents were released and reports had already alluded to the fact the site could be hacked.
"We are currently under a mass distributed denial of service attack," A WikiLeaks post on Twitter read last night. "[National newspapers] El Pais, Le Monde, Spiegel, Guardian &NYT will publish many US embassy cables tonight, even if WikiLeaks goes down."
WikiLeaks used twitter to disseminate information throughout Sunday, and even though the site is not back up and running, has not yet posted its embargoed releases, which are already in the hands of the press.
In September we reported how WikiLeaks had moved a portion of its severs in to a data center in an underground bunker in Stockholme, Sweden, operated by provider Banhof.
The Pionen data center sits 100 ft below bedrock in the center of the city. According to reports, the data center has been built to withstand a nearby hydrogen bomb explosion, and has 1.5MW of back-up power.
The 250,000 ‘Cablegate’ documents, as they are being called, offered information on correspondence by and with diplomats, and deal making by US authorities.
The New York Times reported the cables revealed details about how the Chinese government tried to hack into Google’s computer systems in China as an attempt to sabotage operations there. It also says the Chinese government allegedly hacked into US government and business computers and those of the Dalai Lama, and had been doing this since 2002.
The case has raised the wider issue of computer hacking within the US government and security of its own IT systems.
The cables became headline news late Sunday UK time despite the attack, with WikLeaks targeting key media around the world for the documents’ distribution.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange had warned the website was at risk because of the anticipated launch before the documents were released and reports had already alluded to the fact the site could be hacked.
"We are currently under a mass distributed denial of service attack," A WikiLeaks post on Twitter read last night. "[National newspapers] El Pais, Le Monde, Spiegel, Guardian &NYT will publish many US embassy cables tonight, even if WikiLeaks goes down."
WikiLeaks used twitter to disseminate information throughout Sunday, and even though the site is not back up and running, has not yet posted its embargoed releases, which are already in the hands of the press.
In September we reported how WikiLeaks had moved a portion of its severs in to a data center in an underground bunker in Stockholme, Sweden, operated by provider Banhof.
The Pionen data center sits 100 ft below bedrock in the center of the city. According to reports, the data center has been built to withstand a nearby hydrogen bomb explosion, and has 1.5MW of back-up power.
The 250,000 ‘Cablegate’ documents, as they are being called, offered information on correspondence by and with diplomats, and deal making by US authorities.
The New York Times reported the cables revealed details about how the Chinese government tried to hack into Google’s computer systems in China as an attempt to sabotage operations there. It also says the Chinese government allegedly hacked into US government and business computers and those of the Dalai Lama, and had been doing this since 2002.
The case has raised the wider issue of computer hacking within the US government and security of its own IT systems.