Ben Madilynn
Archive of Our Own, one of the largest fanfiction archives online, recently went offline, leaving users frustrated and anxious. The sudden downtime caused concern that AO3 could be offline for several weeks, causing anxiety for fans, authors and readers. The AO3 platform is loved by millions who use it to share, access, and enjoy a variety of fan-created work. The outage left the fanfiction scene in a void, with countless stories, series and fandoms inaccessible. Users are anxiously waiting for a quick resolution to their unfortunate situation.
AO3’s possible absence for several weeks raises a number of concerns among its users. As author-reader interaction takes place primarily on the platform the downtime hampers ongoing collaborations, and exchanges which are vital to the fanfiction communities. Many authors put a lot of time and effort into their AO3 works and rely heavily on it to connect and reach their readers. It is possible that the prolonged absence of AO3 will not only hinder the progress of current works but also cause a temporary drop in motivation and inspiration for authors. This could ultimately affect the vibrancy of fanfiction. Fans are anxiously awaiting the return of AO3 as the weeks turn into days, hoping that it will soon be reborn to rekindle creativity and excitement in the fandom community.
Archive of Our Own (AO3) The popular fan fiction site has been down for several hours due to a DDoS. We will all get through this difficult time together.
First, AO3’s official Twitter account will update its status. acknowledged the outage on Monday morning(opens in a new tab) U.S. time even though the volunteer staff was still investigating. Five hours later, AO3 confirmed the website was the victim of a DDoS attack(opens in a new tab)The government is working hard to counter this threat.
DoS attacks or denial-of service attacks are common tactics used by malicious actors to take websites offline. The website is flooded with more requests than its servers can handle. This overloads the server and makes it incapable of dealing with legitimate requests. DDoS attacks are distributed denial-of-service attacksThe traffic is coming from many different sources.
Who is behind the DDoS attacks on AO3?
Anonymous Sudan has claimed responsibility for the attack, which is part of a campaign of similar DDoS attacks on U.S. organisations(opens in a new tab). The non-profit organization in the United States runs AO3. Organization for Transformative Works(opens in a new tab). Anonymous Sudan also stated that the AO3 was a’very good program. “against all forms of degeneracy, and the site is full of disgusting smuts and other LGBTQ+ and NSFW things.”(opens in a new tab)
AO3 warns against accepting the motivational claims made by its attackers at face value. Experts believe Anonymous Sudan may actually be linked to Russia(opens in a new tab)Its true goal is to cause division and disruption in the West.
“A group presenting themselves as a collective of religiously and politically motivated hackers has claimed responsibility for the attack,” wrote AO3’s Twitter account.(opens in a new tab) “Experts do not believe they are honest about their motivation, so we urge caution in believing any reasoning they provide for targeting AO3.”
“We do not condone anti-Muslim sentiments under any circumstances,” it continued.(opens in a new tab) “Additionally, to reiterate: cybersecurity experts believe the group claiming responsibility is lying about their affiliation and reasons for attacking websites. View the group’s statements with skepticism.”
Anonymous Sudan claimed initially that the attack would last for up to 24 hrs. it has since issued a ransom demand(opens in a new tab). threatening AO3 to continue its attack “weeks” You will not be able to receive Bitcoins unless you pay $30,000.
Unfortunately for the extortionists, AO3 makes a terrible target. Fan fiction websites are funded solely by donations, and the staff is made up of volunteers. They would be unlikely to pay any ransom if they were willing.
When will AO3 come back?
It’s impossible to say how long AO3 will be offline. The website could be down for weeks, if the attackers are right. But hopefully, the volunteers will be able to stop the DDoS attack before that. AO3 has over 11 million fanworks, in more than 57,000 fandoms. won the Hugo Award for Best Related Work.(opens in a new tab)
The good news is the attack on AO3 wasn’t a security breach. Your email, password and questionable reading histories are safe from prying minds. The bad news is it could be some time before you are able to read your favorite 60k hurt/comfort draft.
