Malaysiakini was inaccessible for more than six hours today due to a rapid fire of requests to its server resulting in what is commonly known as a 'denial of service' (DOS) attack.

Our server was back on-line at 6pm and malaysiakini 's technology staff are keeping a vigilant watch for any unusual traffic which could lead to another shutdown.

"There seems to be a conscious effort to disrupt our services," said malaysiakini 's chief executive officer Premesh Chandran.

"Because the attack used multiple sources (computers), we are unable to track down the culprit. Nevertheless, we will be analysing the traffic for clues," he added

Second attempt

The attack marked the second attempt to disrupt malaysiakini 's operation in as many weeks. The last attack was an attempt to hack into the system.

A DOS attack is not an attempt to enter the system illegally. Instead the attacker or attackers launch a series of requests resulting in unusually high traffic for the hosting server which eventually shuts down the website.

In addition, malaysiakini computers have been infected with a number of viruses over the past few days, one of which is generating virus-infected e-mails to those who have written to website.

Premesh advised those who received e-mails from malaysiakini since Saturday NOT to open any attachments which came with the message "Hi! I send you this file in order to have your advice. See you later. Thanks."

"Please delete this e-mail," Premesh said. "We apologise to those who have been infected by the virus."