![](\"http:\/\/www.rt.com\/files\/news\/1f\/4b\/20\/00\/did-you-miss-us-tweet.png\")
<\/p>\nRT.com was temporarily disabled Monday for just under five hours by a DDoS attack. It coincided with RT’s reporting on the trial of Bradley Manning and massive anti-government protests in Turkey, with coverage continuing uninterrupted on Twitter.<\/p>\n
\n The attack, claimed by anti-WikiLeaks hacker group AntiLeaks,
\n also came as RT celebrated its status as the first international
\n news agency to reach one billion views on YouTube.
\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cYes we are responsible for the attack on #RT_com,\u201d<\/i> read a
\n tweet from AntiLeaks Monday. The same hackers previously used a
\n distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack in August of 2012
\n during the debut episode of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange\u2019s
\n show on RT.\u00a0\u00a0
\n <\/p>\n
\n <\/p>\n
\n Hackers often use DDoS attacks to disable websites by fabricating
\n Internet traffic and overwhelming a site’s hosting service, which
\n is what happened in this case.
\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThis is a continuation of our protest against RT.com for
\n their support of the traitor Bradly Manning and cyber terrorist
\n Julian Assange who I need to remind your viewers once threatened
\n to release a \u2018thermonuclear device\u2019 of government files
\n containing the names of spies, sources, and informants if he\u2019s
\n killed or brought to trial,\u201d<\/i> AntiLeaks wrote in an email to
\n journalist Michael Rusch.\u00a0
\n <\/p>\n
\n ![](\"http:\/\/www.rt.com\/files\/news\/1f\/4b\/20\/00\/responsible-tweet.png\")
<\/p>\n
\n Monday\u2019s leak coincides with the first day of the Bradley Manning
\n trial, with the AntiLeaks spokesman referring to Manning, who
\n risked his life to reveal atrocities carried out by US forces in
\n Iraq and Afghanistan, as a \u201ccoward.\u201d AntiLeaks has previously
\n described Assange as \u201ca new breed of terrorist\u201d and warned him
\n Monday that \u201cyou will see your final days here in America.\u201d\u00a0
\n <\/p>\n
\n This attack however, like the one last year, did not impede RT’s
\n ongoing coverage of the Manning trial or the protests in
\n Turkey.\u00a0
\n <\/p>\n
\n ![](\"http:\/\/www.rt.com\/files\/news\/1f\/4b\/20\/00\/tired-of-watching-tweet.png\")
<\/p>\n
\n The AntiLeaks hackers also make reference to RT’s announcement
\n that the number of people who have watched our coverage has
\n exceeded one billion.
\n <\/p>\n
\n ![](\"http:\/\/www.rt.com\/files\/news\/1f\/4b\/20\/00\/billion-views-sorry-tweet.png\")
<\/p>\n
\n Little information can be gleaned on AntiLeaks aside from the
\n organization\u2019s Twitter feed, though its few dozen tweets over the
\n course of nearly a year are peppered with patriotic American
\n lines like “Semper Fi,” the motto of the US Marine Corps. Various
\n blogs have speculated the group is made up of staff from the
\n National Security Agency, the decades-old, fabled intelligence
\n organization only made public under the George W. Bush
\n administration, or computer experts affiliated with the NSA. One
\n tweet, sent after AntiLeaks disabled WikiLeaks\u2019 website in August
\n 2012, reveals little more.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cYou can call me DietPepsi,\u201d<\/i> the message read. \u201cI am
\n the leader of AntiLeaks. We are not doing this to call attention
\n to ourselves. We are young adults, citizens of the United States
\n of America and are deeply concerned about the recent developments
\n with Julian Assange and his attempt at Asylum in Ecuador.\u201d<\/i>\n<\/p>\n