During the final days before the election, WikiLeaks unveiled the latest batch of leaked emails from the Democratic National Committee. But before it was able to do so, the organization’s website was targeted in a DDoS attack.
As confirmed by WikiLeaks through a tweet, its website temporarily went down after experiencing a distributed denial of service or DDoS attack. This type of cyber-attack works by flooding a website with an unbearable amount of Internet traffic in order to prevent it from operating properly.
According to WikiLeaks, the attack occurred right after it released the second batch of emails from the DNC, which totaled over 8,200.
“Our email publication servers are under targeted DoS attack since releasing #DNCLeak2,” the organization tweeted.
Some of the emails unveiled by WikiLeaks included a report by the DNC which featured a list of potential vice presidential candidates from the Republican Party. Although the list contained over 40 names, including Ben Carson, Ohio Governor Jan Kasich and former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura, Donald Trump’s current running mate Mike Pence was not featured.
The list was prepared by Lauren Dillon, a press representative for the DNC. In the report, Dillon noted that the Democratic Party was also gathering intel on other top potential picks such as New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee.
For now, the individuals behind the DDoS attack on WikiLeaks have not yet been identified. However, the timing of it clearly indicates that the attack was a response to the possible effects of the leaked DNC emails.
When WikiLeaks published the first round of emails earlier this year, which included the Democrats’ plans to assist Hillary Clinton in winning the primaries over Bernie Sanders, the massive revelation led to the resignation of several top officials of the party. One of the key personalities that resigned following the leak was Debbie Wasserman Schultz, according to The Hill.
