Sweden-based group fends off cyber-attack vs Bulatlat

BAGUIO CITY — A Sweden-based group of digital forensic investigation experts has prevented an online attack against Bulatlat, the editors of the alternative online news site said on Tuesday.

Ronalyn Olea, the managing editor of Bulatlat, said the cyber-attacks started on Jan.19 until Jan. 31 and then resumed around 2 a.m. on Tuesday.

She said Qurium Media Foundation has been mitigating the attacks since Jan. 25.

“If not for Qurium, our site could have been down since Jan. 19,” Olea told the Inquirer.

Qurium is known for helping media agencies facing similar attacks. On its website, Qurium said Bulatlat’s site has been subjected to a series of denial-of-service attacks since Jan. 19.

The cyber-attack repeatedly brought down the website for several days.

Olea said the Bulatlat website was migrated to Qurium in the middle of the attack on Jan. 25.

She said this was not the first time that Bulatlat was subjected to such attack.

On Dec. 26, Bulatlat’s website, along with the sites of other alternative news agencies, were also down due to an apparent similar attack.

“We deem the attacks as politically motivated given the timing and context under the Duterte administration,” Olea said./lzb