Femsplain

Summary

A feminist blog experienced a distributed denial-of-service attack coinciding with International Women's Day, utilizing the Low Orbit Ion Cannon tool in an attempt to silence its platform. The attack backfired by generating significant media attention and public support, ultimately amplifying the site's visibility rather than suppressing it. This unintended outcome coincided with the successful completion of a Kickstarter campaign that raised over $30,000 to sustain and expand the platform's operations, ensuring broader reach for women's voices despite the malicious disruption efforts.

Motives

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TTPs

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Description

On March 8, 2015, coinciding with International Women's Day, the feminist blog Femsplain.com experienced a significant Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack designed to overwhelm its servers with malicious traffic and render the site inaccessible. Founder Amber Gordon publicly documented the attack via Twitter, sharing an image illustrating the flood of disruptive traffic targeting the platform. Gordon confirmed this was not Femsplain’s first DDoS incident but emphasized the unprecedented severity of this attack, attributing the heightened intensity to the timing of International Women’s Day. Evidence suggested attackers employed the Low Orbit Ion Cannon (LOIC), a widely recognized tool for coordinating DDoS campaigns, as indicated by a Twitter post from user @Sarkeesian referencing its use. The attack aimed to silence the platform by disrupting its operations during a globally recognized event celebrating women’s contributions.

The DDoS attempt inadvertently amplified Femsplain’s visibility, generating widespread media coverage that highlighted the attack’s symbolic timing and the broader context of online harassment against women’s platforms. Prominent science blogger Phil Plait publicly noted the attackers’ failure to suppress the site, observing that their actions had instead drawn attention to Femsplain’s mission. This increased exposure coincided with the successful conclusion of Femsplain’s Kickstarter campaign, which raised over $30,000 to fund the creation of a dedicated platform for women’s voices. No technical countermeasures or containment actions by Femsplain were detailed in available reports, but the organization leveraged the incident’s publicity to underscore the necessity of its work and secure financial support for its future operations. The attack’s primary consequence was heightened public awareness of both the platform and the persistent hostility faced by women-centered online spaces.

Sources

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