Archive of Our Own down? It could be offline for weeks, here’s why

Since Monday morning, numerous users have encountered problems with Archive of Our Own. On Monday afternoon, more than 4,000 users in the U.S. reported issues on Downdetector, primarily relating to the website's functionality. Archive of Our Own responded to the situation through several tweets, acknowledging the problem and assuring users that they are investigating and addressing a cyberattack that rendered the website inaccessible.

However, while users have continued to raise their discomfort online, it is also believed that the Archive of Our Own website could be down for weeks.

What happened to Archive of Our Own?

The official Twitter account for AO3's status updates initially acknowledged the service disruption on Monday morning in the U.S. However, at that time, the volunteer team was still in the process of investigating the underlying cause. Five hours later, AO3 confirmed that the website had fallen victim to a DDoS attack and shared their ongoing efforts to mitigate the impact of the attack.

What are denial-of-service attacks (DoS) attacks?

Denial-of-service (DoS) attacks are frequently employed by malicious individuals to render websites inoperable. These attacks involve overwhelming the targeted website with an excessive volume of requests, surpassing its capacity to handle them. Consequently, the website's servers become overloaded, leading to an inability to process legitimate user requests. Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks follow a similar approach, but the influx of traffic originates from multiple sources instead of a single one.

Who attacked Archive of Our Own website?

The non-profit website AO3, known for hosting fan fiction, has recently been targeted by a hacktivist group called Anonymous Sudan. They took responsibility for a DDoS attack and expressed their opposition to what they perceived as ‘disgusting’, on the platform. However, AO3 has cautioned against accepting the group's statements without further investigation.

Why would it take weeks?

Initially, Anonymous Sudan stated that the attack on the Archive of Our Own website would persist for a maximum of 24 hours. However, the situation has now escalated with the group issuing a ransom demand. They are threatening to prolong the attack for "weeks" unless a payment of $30,000 in Bitcoin is made.

FAQs:

Q1:What is the Archive of Our Own website about?
The Archive of Our Own (AO3) is a website established in 2008 by the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW). As a non-profit platform, it provides a space for fans to share their creative works, including fan fiction, fan art, fan videos, and podfic. AO3 has gained popularity, boasting an extensive collection of over 11 million works across more than 57,000 fandoms.

Q2:Who attacked the Archive of Our Own website?
The non-profit website AO3, known for hosting fan fiction, has recently been targeted by a hacktivist group called Anonymous Sudan. They took responsibility for a DDoS attack and expressed their opposition to what they perceived as ‘disgusting’, on the platform. However, AO3 has cautioned against accepting the group's statements without further investigation.