The attacks began on February 8, when the NUJP website was targeted by a Distribution Denial of Services (DDos) attack. The attack saw the website go offline twice after 8.30pm. A DDoS attack is an attempt to disrupt normal traffic of a targeted server, service or network by overwhelming the target or its surrounding infrastructure with a flood of Internet traffic. In this instance, the attacks came from India, Indonesia and Thailand.

On February 11, the NUJP website was again targeted by a DDoS attack but was back online quickly. In all, the NUJP website servers experienced 615 gigabytes of traffic since Friday, peaking at 468 GB in a single attack.

The attack on the NUJP website comes after Pinoy Weekly and Kadao Productions had their websites targeted and saw them offline for several days.  The NUJP sees these cyber-attacks as part of a coordinated campaign to undermine alternative news and critical views in the Philippines. 

The NUJP said: “We believe the attack on the NUJP site is related to the ones launched against Bulatlat and alternative news sites Kodao Productions and AlterMidya, all of which host NUJP chapters.”

The IFJ said: “The use of DDos attacks to silence critical voices and opinions is the latest threat to press freedom. Blocking access to information is a violation of people’s rights and weakens democracy. We will stand with NUJP and the media community as they strive for press freedom.”