JumpCutz

Yikes. This could get ugly.


The notorious message board 4Chan has been taken offline by an overwhelming web attack.

Because of the attack, the discussion boards of the site have been hard to reach or offline for almost 24 hours.

The attack might be retaliation for similar attacks that some 4Chan members, as part of the Anonymous group, mounted in support of Wikileaks.

It is not yet clear who is carrying out the attacks and no-one has come forward to claim responsibility.

News about the large-scale web attack, known as a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack, came to light via a message posted on Twitter by Moot, the founder of 4Chan.

He wrote: "Site is down due to DDoS. We now join the ranks of Mastercard, Visa, Paypal, et al - an exclusive club!"

A DDoS attack involves bombarding a server behind a website with data in an attempt to knock it offline.

Many members of 4Chan work together in the guise of a group called Anonymous to carry out attacks on websites they deem to be enemies of freedom of speech.
Most recently, Anonymous members took action in support of whistle-blowing site Wikileaks. Anonymous used a DDoS tool to hit the corporate websites of Mastercard, Visa and Paypal because the firms had cut off payment connections to Wikileaks.

Paul Mutton, a security analyst at site watching firm Netcraft, said the attack on 4Chan was ongoing.

"For most of the past 24 hours, the site has either been very slow to respond or has been completely unreachable," he said.

Statistics gathered by Netcraft show 4Chan was hit hard early on Wednesday but that it recovered towards the afternoon.

A blog showing the status of the various elements of 4Chan suggests the image boards, the most heavily used part of the site, have been down for hours.

Early reports suggested that a hacktivist known as the Jester was behind the attack. Before now, some members of Anonymous said they would target the Jester with DDoS attacks after he declared an ambition to knock Wikileaks offline.

However, in a Twitter message, the Jester denied any involvement in the attack.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12090245

Supermallet

Whoever is behind this would be smart not to take responsibility. Hell hath no fury like 4Chan scorned.

The Cow

Breaking news:

"DVDTalk Otter forum has claimed responsibility for bringing down the lamers at 4Chan"

mhg83

Thank god moot turned off that damn yellow background and cotton eye joe song. wtf was that shit?!

Skyclad01

What is wikileaks?

Dr Mabuse

:stopsound:

kvrdave

The humiliation of all the photoshops.

I like a lot of what 4Chan does, but I also don't mind them getting knocked down a peg. Where are their 7 proxies now?

And I disliked them going after companies that turned out to have nothing to do with wikileaks. They just responded first and looked for evidence later.

Mopower

Do yourself a favor and watch the news once a week.

mndtrp

4chan kind of frightens me.

tonyc3742

Yeah, I think they do cool leet hacker stuff first, find a reason later. I always envision 4chan people as the losers at that one table in the back of the school cafeteria who suck at everything [schoolwork, sports, extracurricular activities] except making fun of everyone else from their self-anointed 'pedestal'.

No offense intended to other people at the back of the cafeteria.

I'm fine with both 4chan and Wikileaks and all involved being taken down permanently. Anarchy's really not all that cool, and "hacktivism" is a way for these losers to feel better about themselves.

Who Hacks the Hackers? Maybe they'll all just knock each other off.

DarthVong

End of line.

Venusian

Does 4chan ban people? My guess it is someone that the site banned or pissed off.

Boba Fett

I highly doubt it. I'm guessing it's someone doing it because he or she doesn't care much for the site and the press they get.

MrSmearkase

/\ Yeah, this is likely more of an example of what goes around, comes around.

Dragon Tattoo

Well in that case, I'm looking in dtcarson's direction.

Sean O'Hara

No, no, no, they're the three kids who, no matter how crowded the cafeteria gets, always have a table to themselves because if you sit within five feet of them you feel the need to get checked for lice.

The Bus

Boxxy's revenge.

Skyclad01

I gave up on watching the news many years ago. All the stuff I wanted to see didn't come on till the very end, and was only a 30 second bit every time.

Groucho

The cyber-police, no doubt.

Supermallet

JumpCutz

Oh lordy.

Matthew Chmiel

Right now I'm imagining "Fall" playing as background music as pizza delivery trucks and busses full of hookers descend on the poor schmuck's house who initiated the attack.

kvrdave

Very likely. They are the most recognized, but there are likely people who shit bigger than them and wanted to remind them of it while they were gloating.

NORML54601

They do ban users but it doesn't happen very often

majorjoe23

Sauce?