Just Sos You Knows, AO3 Is Down Under A DDOS Attack Right Now. Theyve Been Coming Back In Little Blips

Just sos you knows, AO3 is down under a DDOS attack right now. They’ve been coming back in little blips and then disappearing again. It’s been several hours. (For reference, it’s currently 3 p.m. eastern, July 10, 2023.)

https://twitter.com/AO3_Status/status/1678468065070030856

The culprit (as with a few other DDOS attacks recently) is Anonymous Sudan, a group that is likely Russian, not Sudanese. The ‘reason’ they gave–that AO3 is “full of disgusting smuts and other LGBTQ+ and NSFW things,” is thin and probably not completely legit, though still legitimately concerning.

The AS claim: https://twitter.com/FalconFeedsio/status/1678397195039526912

Reporting on AS: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-28/anonymous-sudan-does-group-behind-microsoft-cyberattack-have-ties-to-russia (you can use archive.ph to get this one, 12ft doesn’t seem to work)

As noted here, https://twitter.com/honeyskeleton/status/1678449598703050769:

DDOS protection is expensive especially for a high traffic site like ao3. And it’s uniquely vulnerable as an independent site without ads or other corporate support. SPECIFICALLY targeted bc of its queer works and yet ppl will still complain every time they ask for donations lmao 

So, again, when AO3 comes back online, please don’t go hard with refreshing all your tabs. Please do remember to download fics you love early and often as  you continue in your whole ~reading journey~. And please do support AO3 through a dono or becoming a donating member, if it is possible for you to do so.

time to actually write that cool (in my head) and long MHA fanfic that's been cooking for so long but ive never gotten to writing it cus the only 5000+ plus words i have on it disappeared with my now burnt 10+ yr old laptop

(def not gonna have several mha wiki tabs open for Research Purposes and not get started n e way)

Fun things to do when Ao3 comes back

Donate

Write and post as much gay smut as your heart desires

Comment appreciation on your favourite fics that you missed so much

Write and post even more gay smut because it wasn’t enough the first time round

Thank your local Ao3 volunteer with a homemade pie and a cool rock

Punch a homophobe. You might as well.

Support your local library because they are also an archive of free literature who depend on the support of people and let this be a lesson to everyone that humanity goes on hold the second we lose access to free literature.

s̵̥͇̰̣̉̾͜͜ạ̷̹̒̐͗c̵͚̹͔̉́̕ŗ̴̨̩͛̚i̸̡̛͒̅̍͠f̸̝̻͙̜̖̐͌̿̊̋͝ĩ̵̮̲͍͚̈́͑c̸̪̹̒̚͜͝ě̵͍ ̴̹̪̮̯̬̙͋͑̃͊̌̚a̵͕̦̕ ̵̱̬̗̦́́͂͆̾͠ḧ̸̭́̊́̿ó̶̜͎͙͚͙͈̆̏̉m̴̡̧͇̺̟̻͒̈͐́ỏ̷͙̫̱̻̀̓͐̎͜p̷̧͈͛́͗h̸͍̰͂̍́̕̕̕o̸̻̬͋̈́̿̍͠b̵̰̺̩̂̀̒̽̕ė̷̡̜̈́̏̇̐͘͜ ̶̧̥̪̞͎̖̀̄͂̉t̴̹̼̒̈́̈́͆o̴̝̐̓̈́͘͠ ̴͍̍̍͒͋͜t̸̲̝̠̀͜͝ḣ̵͔̞̭̱̰̯e̵̥͉͖͆͊̍̑̇̾͜ ̶͎̑́̀̉̌͘w̶̢̲͓̒̊̂̔͝a̵̧̝̬͗̆̍̆̈́͐ț̷̈͗̓͘͠č̵̢͍͚̩̏́̕h̶̨͔̗͙̟̜͆͝i̴̧̟̞̠̰̓ǹ̶̨̺̫̠͈g̸̢̈́ ̶̛̮̱̉̓̐͊͜e̸̡̹̤̞̋̓̈̍͋̚n̵̠̼͖̱̬̔̉́̏͘͠t̷̯̰̱̍̍̈́̏ͅi̶͕̩̘̹̿͗͂ͅẗ̶̯̥͕̼̈͑͂̑͑í̴̧̲̜̝͈̈́̎̈̍̄ͅé̵̡̕s̴̤͈̬̩̒ ̶̖̄̂̽w̶͉̓̀͆͝h̶̭͊͌͌̄́̒ǫ̵̈́̓̌̑ ̷̞̃f̸̢̛͈͇̼̓e̷͙̣̺͖̓́ã̴̦͔͙̺̏͂̉̽́ş̸̼͍̱̗̈́͋̚t̸̡̮̳͚̪̑̋ ̶̫̬̜̦̗̭̌̈́́͌͗͝f̴̨͚͍̙̪̫̑͐ơ̷͙̝͉̒͗ͅr̷̹̝͍͚̺̐͊̒̽̀͆ ̴̢̰̻̣̾t̴̘͔̮̓h̶͓̙̙́͝ẹ̶͖̓i̷̫̖̭̿r̵͚̙̠̱̖̈́̓ ̴̟͓̊̑f̸̖̰͕̰͆̃́͝e̵̢͇̅̾͑͜ȧ̸͓̪͚r̵̜̫͕̜̱̱̎̓̈̊͠s̷͍̙͓̬̦̎̇̈́͜ ̶̢̰̰̊̃̿̚ͅä̷̪̠́̅̔̍́̕͜n̴͎͍̘͒̿̾̂͘d̷̮̪̘̔ ̸̹̗̥̩̮͙̄̋̏̏ṫ̸̡̨̧̰h̶͈̻̎̃͐̆̐̾ȩ̴̡̦̘̳͈͌͆͋i̷̖̬͒r̵̜͍̖̣̓̐ ̷̥͎͂͌ͅb̴̙͇̗̅̀͗̃̅l̶͓͚͈͙͔͖̈͝ó̴̜̼o̶̧͉̦͎̖͐͛d̸̢̡̼͙͊̏̓́͘͠

[text ID: sacrifice a homophobe to the watching entities who feast for their fears and their blood]

fucking donate

a total of 97, all are categorized by fandom infact (31 in Detective Conan, 27 in varying MXTX 3 books, 11 in Naruto, 9 on Genshin Impact, 7 in JJK, 4 in MHA, 4 in Harry potter, 2 on Onmyoji, 1 on KHR, 1 on Kusuriuri) on my phone and solely bcus i have a limit of 99, dont ask me how much on my laptop though

Reblog for more votes !

Gays were complaining about not have an option over 55, so here you go.

This extract from Darkness by Lord Byron describes perfectly how I feel since I can't read my fanfics because ao3 is not available. All is misery and agony.

DDoS Attack Against AO3: Correcting Misinformation

Normally I don't make any posts like this, but I have an interest in cybersecurity and sadly I've seen people are being really ignorant about this recent DDoS attack against the site AO3 (Archive of Our Own), so I thought I'd remind people of a few things:

Anonymous Sudan appears to have no actual link to Sudan at all, or to any previous hacktivist groups that once operated there. This masquerade is probably based in anti-immigration and other racist sentiments, and utilizing those sentiments in other people to scare people and set up Muslims and Sudanese people as a target. This should be obvious from the language used in their note, but this was already known prior to this particular attack.

This so-called Anonymous Sudan has actually been very active recently—remember that they claimed to attack Reddit, Flickr, Riot Games, a huge number of Microsoft web portals like OneDrive and Outlook, etc. before AO3, so AO3 was totally a logical target for them since they've gone after smaller entities before. DDoS attacks like this are easy for any script kiddie to set up, so it's not weird that they'd go for a smaller target like this.

Honestly this group of posers probably just wants money, everybody. They sent AO3 a ransom note asking for Bitcoin (and just in case people don't know, do not pay a ransom if at all possible if this ever happens to you).

My advice to people who've noticed this attack is two-fold: calm down since this is part of a larger pattern that has literally resulted in basically no loss for the end-user of any of the sites, and... I don't really know a better way to put this, but don't believe everything you read. A religiously-motivated hate group wouldn't use terms like "LGBTQ+" and "smuts," and it's so blatantly obvious that the timing of every single one of these attacks is being used to smear Muslims and Sudanese people if you think about current events for like. One second. And if you look up Anonymous Sudan, you'll see their string of attacks and how all experts know that they have nothing to do with Sudan at all. Even AO3 itself told everybody that the group is lying about their motivations... though I think I'd go further than that personally because even their name itself is almost certainly a total sham.

To be clear: this post isn't targeted at anyone in particular. I've just seen a lot of people falling for this overall or not realizing this is part of a pattern, and I also wanted to remind everyone that this isn't anything to be concerned about. What is something to be concerned about is not doing research or thinking critically and then unwittingly spreading racist ideas.