Human Rights Body Avaaz Under ‘Massive Cyber Attack’
Avaaz suspects a government or a private business to be behind what it claims is a massive cyber attack on its site
Human rights organisation Avaaz is asking for donations to help protect it against a “massive” persistent cyber attack, which it believes a government or large corporation is behind.
Avaaz has been campaigning over a number of high-profile issues, launching a petition calling on companies such as Facebook and Microsoft to ditch support for the US Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), while it has also been pushing to “stop Rupert Murdoch”.
‘Sophisticated assaults’
The body believes it has irked those it is campaigning against. “An expert is telling us that an attack this large is likely coming from a government or large corporation, with massive, simultaneous and sophisticated assaults from across the world to take down our site,” a message on the Avaaz site read.
“We have urgent campaigns on oceans, forests and Syria we need to run, but the attack has been going on for 36 hours straight, threatening our ability to keep campaigning. Because of top-notch security, our site is still up, but it’s not enough.
“We need to show these actors that when they attack Avaaz, they’re messing with people. And people-power can’t be intimidated or silenced, it only grows stronger.”
The same web page includes a donation tool, which will go to taking Avaaz’s security “to the next level”, to show the attackers “that whatever they throw at us only makes us stronger.”
Sarah Brown, the wife of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, has offered her support for Avaaz. “Right now @Avaaz site under attack, powerful interests trying to take it down. Donate now to secure the site,” Brown said.
This year has so far been another significant one in terms of cyber attacks ostensibly involving nation states. Iran said this week it knew who was behind a hit on its oil ministry, as well as their “hidden agenda”.
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