I thought these guys were tech savvy?
A couple weeks after WikiLeaks.org’s DNS services provider cut if off, someone within the organization finally figured out how to log into the registrar account and change the DNS.
Seriously, was this just a ploy to get more publicity? When EveryDNS cut of WikiLeaks, all the organization had to do was log in to its Dynadot account and change the nameservers to another DNS or hosting service. Instead the domain name sat there…not resolving.
Finally, it appears that someone logged into the DynaDot registrar account and changed the nameservers. They currently point to Dynadot’s own nameservers, which may be set up with URL forwarding. The organization has had access to the registrar account all along.
Visiting WikiLeaks.org right now forwards me to WikiLeaks.info. Perhaps these guys are slow learners. WikiLeaks.info is registered with Go Daddy, a domain name registrar located in the good ole’ U.S.A. But I guess another mirror site is just a URL forward away.
jackie says
this internet is srs business.
Luc says
The site was under a heavy DOS attack, which is why the first few hosting companies took it offline.
It wasn’t due to the questionable content, it was because it was knocking their entire network (and customers) offline.
Changing DNS is no biggie, the hard part is finding a host that can take handle the attack (which by now should have ended).
Michael says
besides which, it takes time to propagate through the internet. Even if you re-point straight away sometimes it can still take some time.
Anyway there are close to 2000 mirror sites now so this probley no longer exists.
I estimate that within a month there will be around 5000 mirror sites.
Rory says
I think they as a very poplar website owner should know how to change dns. The problem is what dns they should change to.
Antaar says
Access – I think the guy with the registerar password might have been a bit too busy the last week. Jail guards might not like lending their notebooks to jailed hackers so they can maintain their domains 🙂
sip says
If they were smart they wouldn’t have released classified government documents to begin with.
Had those belonged to Russia, the guy would have been found face down in a bowl of soup weeks ago.
Cress says
There’s speculation that wikileaks.info (and possibly wikileaks.org) isn’t currently under control WikiLeaks. See articles below for more info. The articles note that the .info site is being hosted on blackhat bulletproof servers and the content contained therein doesn’t completely match with what is available from the official sites (wikileak.nl and one other). A bit of speculation that there could be more malicious motivations to the .info site though no evidence of it iirc. Regardless, read the articles and draw your own conclusion.
http://www.spamhaus.org/news.lasso?article=665
http://blog.trendmicro.com/wikileaks-in-a-dangerous-internet-neighborhood/