WikiLeaks hit again by DDOS cyber attack

WikiLeaks, the organization which recently disseminated a swath of classified US diplomatic cables, is under siege by hackers. In two Twitter posts this morning, reps for WikiLeaks said its homepage had been slammed by DDOS attacks, which flood the server with communication requests, effectively overpowering the site, and rendering it inaccessible to users.

"We are currently under another DDOS attack," read a message posted to the WikiLeaks Twitter account this morning. Two hours later, a second message appeared: "DDOS attack now exceeding 10 Gigabits a second." As of 11 a.m., WikiLeaks.org was back online. Still, WikiLeaks has been regularly pelted with DDOS attacks since news of the diplomatic cables first broke, and many analysts expect the attacks could continue for some time.

Earlier today, the Register spoke to reps for Arbor Networks, a firm which works to prevent DDOS attacks.

Arbor Networks, the Register reported, found that the WikiLeaks attack "ran at a relatively modest 2-4Gbps for several hours. The attack, modest by the standards of other attacks this year that have hit 10Gbps and above, was nonetheless severe enough for Wikileaks to move its systems back back over to Amazon's cloud infrastructure in order to seek shelter from the storm."

According to the Guardian, WikiLeaks moved its site to Amazon's servers on Monday.