WikiLeaks deduced that its supporters may be behind the massive attack on the United States' internet that left many websites and segments of the country offline Friday.
The group posted a message on Twitter, asking its supporters to cease its cyber attacks. A wave of attacks hit several websites Friday morning and a second attack occurred early Friday afternoon.
A third wave of attacks began in the evening.
WikiLeaks' assumption that its supporters could be to blame is based on the Ecuadorian embassy in London pulling the plug on Julian Assange's internet last Saturday. Assange, the editor-in-chief of the website, has lived there for four years in asylum in order to avoid facing rape charges in Sweden.
Ecuador's government acknowledged this week it "temporarily restricted" Assange's internet access last Saturday following a WikiLeaks release of Hillary Clinton's Goldman Sachs speeches, the transcripts of which she has refused to make public. WikiLeaks claimed Secretary of State John Kerry played a role in persuading Ecuador to sever Assange's connection.
Friday's cyber attacks consist of tens of millions of internet-connected devices like webcams, printers, and thermostats overwhelming the servers at web service company Dyn. Several dozen websites were down off and on throughout the day, along with social media networks like Twitter.
Internet service providers were also taken offline in some locations, leaving many Americans unable to access the Internet from their homes.
The third wave of attacks is coming from locations across the world, which poses more of challenge for workers trying to stop them.
"The complexity of the attacks is what's making it very challenging for us," said Kyle York, Dyn's chief strategy officer.
The Department of Homeland Security, including the FBI, is investigating the attack.
Two top cybersecurity officials warned this week of forthcoming "destructive, disruptive, and coercive" cyber attacks.
Downdetector.com, which tracks problems with websites and internet service providers, listed 50 such properties that were experiencing connection issues Friday.
WikiLeaks has released thousands of pages of documents and emails in recent months that were hacked from computer networks tied to Democrats, including presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. Some suspect Russia was behind the data thefts, which in turn could have given the information to WikiLeaks.
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