The popular fanfiction platform AO3 is currently caught in the crossfire of some seriously annoying distributed denial-of-service attacks (DDoS attacks). It’s been a rollercoaster ride since early Monday morning, with the AO3 website going offline and then randomly coming back online, leaving users beyond frustrated.
AO3, known for its massive collection of fan-created content spanning all sorts of fandoms and genres, is a non-profit online archive. But these cyber troublemakers have really thrown a wrench into the works, and AO3 had to take to their official Twitter account to address the chaos.
The first tweet acknowledging the issue went out at 1:24 PM · Jul 10, 2023 (GMT), with AO3 simply stating, “The Archive is experiencing some issues.” Well, no kidding! Later that day, at 6:38 PM · Jul 10, 2023, AO3 dropped the bombshell that these disruptions were a result of a full-blown DDoS attack. Their tweet read, “It looks like the Archive is under a DDoS attack causing the servers to fall over.” Talk about a knockout blow!
AO3 didn’t stop there. They spilled the tea and revealed that the culprits behind these DDoS attacks are a “collective of religiously and politically motivated hackers.”
Hackread.com has even reached out to AO3 for an official statement, hoping to uncover the motives and identities of these attackers.
Now, even though these DDoS attacks have been wreaking havoc on the network, AO3 wants you to know that your personal data is safe and sound. They made it crystal clear that there’s no need to go scrambling to change your passwords in response to this madness.
But let’s be real here, the AO3 community is on the edge of its seats, anxiously waiting for more updates and praying for a quick fix to these ongoing DDoS attacks. They just want uninterrupted access to their beloved fanfiction archive, and who can blame them?