The popular fanfiction platform, Archive of Our Own (AO3), has been hit by a series of disruptive distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, resulting in the website being offline since Monday, 10 July 2023.
AO3 blackout caused by DDos attacks: Here’s what we know
AO3 addressed the issue through its official Twitter account on Monday, confirming that the servers had been overwhelmed by a DDoS attack, causing the site to collapse under the heavy traffic.
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The responsibility for the attack has been claimed by a group calling themselves Anonymous Sudan. They have demanded a ransom to halt the ongoing assault, adding further complications to the situation.
In response, the AO3 team is actively working to defend against the attack and restore normal functionality to the platform. Users may encounter error messages or experience display issues with the site layout while these efforts are underway.
At the time of reporting, the site was still reporting issues.
Users don’t need to change passwords – FOR NOW
It is important to note that DDoS attacks do not compromise private user data, according to AO3. Therefore, there is no immediate need for users to change their passwords in response to the outage.
As of now, no estimated timeline has been provided for when the archive will be back online.
An entity claiming to be Anonymous Sudan, operating through a group on the Telegram messaging service, has taken credit for the attack.
However, Flashpoint, a threat intelligence vendor, has reported that Anonymous Sudan has been active since January 2023 and has previously claimed responsibility for DDoS attacks against Microsoft and various companies across Europe.
It is worth noting that this group has no credible affiliation with the country of Sudan or the previous Anonymous group associated with it.
AO3 has cautioned against readily accepting these claims.
In a tweet on Monday, the platform stated,
“A group presenting themselves as a collective of religiously and politically motivated hackers has claimed responsibility for the attack. Cybersecurity experts believe the group claiming responsibility is lying about their affiliation and reasons for attacking websites. View the group’s statements with skepticism.”
Initially, the Anonymous Sudan group declared that the attack would last for approximately 24 hours. However, they subsequently issued a ransom demand of $30 000 worth of Bitcoin, threatening to keep AO3 offline for weeks if their demands are not met.