Malaysiakini's server came under attack as tensions mount ahead of tomorrow's Bersih 3.0 rally.

Readers and subscribers, especially those using international routing such as Blackberry phones, have been unable to access Malaysiakini since 5.30pm this evening.

The attack known as a distributed denial of service (DDOS), involves using a large number of computers to flood Malaysiakini's servers with ‘dud’ traffic, causing a traffic jam which denies access to legitimate users.

The attack is normally carried out by international syndicates paid to disrupt targeted websites.

A similar attack was carried out against Malaysiakini in April and July last year, in tandem with the Sarawak elections and Bersih 2.0 respectively.

Malaysiakini's

technology team is currently studying the attack patterns and will take measures to overcome the attacks.

Local users who are affected by the change should also try to www1.malaysiakini.com and www2.malaysiakini.com should they lose connection to Malaysiakini's primary website.

Users should also visit www.facebook.com/malaysiakini for updates on the DDOS attacks.