Sergei Smirnov, 05/12/11

Source: HRO.org

· Electoral rights  · Freedom of expression  · Human rights defenders

On 4 December 2011, election day, a number of well-known Russian websites were attacked by hackers. The sites attacked included those of Golos, Echo of Moscow radio, HRO.org and others.

These sites were subjected to DDoS attacks that involve a site receiving a very large number of requests. These requests are generated automatically by a widespread network that can include thousands and tens of thousands of computers. This unceasing flow of requests blocks normal access to the site.

The HRO.org team worked on finding a solution to the problem. By Monday morning access to the site HRO.org had been fully restored.

We apologize to readers who were inconvenienced by what happened. We believe that the DDoS election-day attacks on online resources were a clear but inevitably unsuccessful attempt to prevent people freely expressing independent points of view. It is because of actions of this kind that it becomes increasingly difficult to talk of Russia as a country where human dignity and rights are respected. Nonetheless, we have drawn positive lessons from this situation and we shall do all we can to ensure that in future such attacks cause less damage. Our thanks to all those who have remained with us.

Sincerely yours,

HRO.org