As expected, Malaysiakini has come under a sustained distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack, which began at 5pm today.

Due to Malaysiakini 's new server infrastructure after the last DDOS attack during the Sarawak state election three months ago, the site managed to ride the first wave of the attack and remains accessible to the public.

Malaysiakini expects the attack strategy to shift, becoming more intensive and complex over the next 24 hours ahead of the polls reform group Bersih rally tomorrow.

"Managing a DDOS attack is really a battle of resources," said Malaysiakini CEO Premesh Chandran.

“After the DDOS attack in April, we have looked at the problem from all angles. There is no affordable way to be 100 percent sure that we can counter an attack."

Chandran said that Malaysiakini has disabled its log-in server as the attacks will make it harder for subscribers to access the website. The comments section has also been taken out since it is linked to the paying subscribers.

This has effectively made the website free to all readers.

However as a result of these measures, subscribers will temporarily be unable to post their comments to the stories for now.

Mirror sites

In a DDOS attack, multiple bots, or programmes running on servers or personal computers in different countries are used to bombard a site's server with multiple requests to view the site.

The 'bots' will repeat the request for data so many times they flood the server, beyond its ability to respond.

Malaysiakini will continue to monitor the attack and take steps to ensure the site stays up.

The site will also be launching mirror sites on blog platforms Wordpress and Blogspot as well as publishing news on Malaysiakini 's Facebook page tomorrow.

If Malaysiakini 's site is blocked or inaccessible, readers can follow its Facebook page for information on the latest access routes.

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MalaysiaKini?sk=wall

Wordpress: http://malaysiakinicom1.wordpress.com/