Fanfic writers targeted by Anonymous Sudan in apparent DDoS attack on Ao3
Popular fan fiction repository Archive of Our Own (Ao3) has reported that it is experiencing a sustained distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack carried out by a group of “religiously and politically motivated” hackers.
Simultaneously, Anonymous Sudan has claimed responsibility for the attack on its Telegram channel, stating that the attack will persist for a minimum of 24 hours.
There appear to be two reasons behind the attack on Ao3. According to a post on Telegram, the group stated, “It’s part of our campaign targeting companies registered in the United States.” This suggests that the initial motivation is Anonymous Sudan’s broader focus on American companies and organizations.
However, there is another factor driving the attack. The post also mentioned, “… we are against all forms of degeneracy, and the site is full of disgusting smuts and other LGBTQ+ and NSFW things.”
In a recent post, Anonymous Sudan made a ransom demand. They stated, “You have exactly 24 hours from the time of the posting of this offer to fill up this bitcoin wallet with 30,000 US dollars.” The group further added that if the demand is met within the given timeframe, they will immediately cease the DDoS attacks and refrain from targeting the site again. However, if their demand is not met, they will keep the site down for weeks, as they have done with other companies before.
As of now, the Ao3 website is intermittently displaying 503 Service Unavailable errors. However, Ao3’s volunteer administrators are actively working on resolving the issue. In a statement on Twitter, Ao3 apologized for any inconvenience caused and assured users that they are doing their best to restore normalcy as quickly as possible.
Archive of Our Own, commonly known as Ao3, is a non-profit online repository for amateur fiction inspired by popular books, TV series, and films. The site hosts over 11 million works of fiction and has a user base of over 5 million. In 2019, Ao3 received a Hugo Award.
Anonymous Sudan has been actively targeting various platforms and companies in recent days, including Reddit, Tumblr, and a video game publisher, with similar DDoS attacks. The group stated in their Telegram post on July 9 that any American company is susceptible to their attacks, regardless of the industry or specific company.
Despite its religious rhetoric and iconography, it is highly likely that Anonymous Sudan is not affiliated with the country of Sudan. Cybersecurity firm CyberCX believes that the group is operating under a false name to mask their true motives.
