It's every publisher's worst nightmare: On the day a massive story is set to run, your website suddenly goes offline. Unfortunately, it's a nightmare that just became a reality for New York magazine. Less than 24 hours after publishing interviews with 35 different women who spoke about being assaulted by Bill Cosby, the magazine's website has gone down due to a distributed denial of service attack allegedly caused by a person affiliated with the hacking group Vikingdom2016.
The alleged hacker, using the handle "ThreatKing," wasn't even aware that New York was publishing the Cosby story today. ThreatKing is simply on a crusade to shut down any publication with "New York" in its name, due to a personal dislike for New York City. "I went to New York two months ago. It was really bad," said ThreatKing in an interview with The Daily Dot. "Someone pranked me. Everyone started laughing and shit. The first 10 hours being there. Some African-American tried to prank me with a fake hand gun." ThreatKing's future New York-centric targets include The New York Times, the website of New York's FBI bureau, and New York University.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
How will Wall Street react to the Trump-Powell showdown?Today's Big Question 'Market turmoil' seems likely
-
Google ruled a monopoly over ad tech dominanceSpeed Read Attorney General Pam Bondi hailed the ruling as a 'landmark victory in the ongoing fight to stop Google from monopolizing the digital public square'
-
El Salvador's CECOT prison becomes Washington's go-to destinationIN THE SPOTLIGHT Republicans and Democrats alike are clamoring for access to the Trump administration's extrajudicial deportation camp — for very different reasons
-
Kenya arrests alleged ant smugglersspeed read Two young Belgians have been charged for attempting to smuggle ants out of the country to exotic pet buyers
-
Judge ends Eric Adams case, Trump leverageSpeed Read Federal corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams were dismissed, as requested by Trump's Justice Department
-
Texas arrests midwife on felony abortion chargesSpeed Read Maria Margarita Rojas and an employee at one of her clinics are the first to be criminally charged under Texas' near-total abortion ban
-
South Carolina to execute prisoner by firing squadspeed read Death row inmate Brad Sigmon prefers the squad over the electric chair or lethal injection, his lawyer said
-
North Korea may have just pulled off the world's biggest heistUnder the Radar Hermit kingdom increasingly targets vulnerable cryptocurrency, using cybercrime to boost battered economy and fund weapons programmes
-
Mexico extradites 29 cartel figures amid US tariff threatSpeed Read The extradited suspects include Rafael Caro Quintero, long sought after killing a US narcotics agent
-
Leonard Peltier released from prisonSpeed Read The Native American activist convicted of killing two FBI agents had his life sentence commuted by former President Joe Biden
-
Ex-Sen. Bob Menendez sentenced to 11 yearsSpeed Read The former New Jersey senator was convicted on federal bribery and corruption charges last year
