Notorious file-sharing site The Pirate Bay is reportely the victim of a cyber attack that has rendered it inaccessible for 24 hours.
An insider reportedly leaked the information to reliable news site TorrentFreak.
The timing of the ‘attack’ is interesting: it arrives as ISPs including Virgin Media and Orange veto consumers from accessing the site. Sky Broadband, Everything Everywhere (Orange & T-mobile owner), O2 Broadband, TalkTalk and Virgin were all ordered by the High Court to block access to The Pirate Bay in the UK last month.
No-one has yet claimed responsibility for the action.
However, DDoS attacks have become one hallmark of ‘hacktivist’ group Anonymous, who took down the official Virgin Media site with just such a practice last week – as a protest over the High Court ruling.
Surprisingly, The PirateBay distanced itself from that attack.
“We do NOT encourage these actions,” it said in a statement.
“We believe in the open and free internets, where anyone can express their views. Even if we strongly disagree with them and even if they hate us.
“So don’t fight them using their ugly methods. DDOS and blocks are both forms of censorship.”
Could an Anonymous member have retaliated and done what every rights-holder has been dreaming of for years – incapacitating TPB? –NME
