Greatfire.org

Greatfire.org operates as a Chinese activist‑run platform that mirrors internationally blocked websites to provide users inside China with access to censored information. It focuses on circumventing state‑imposed internet restrictions by hosting copies of services such as social media, news outlets and other platforms that are blocked by the Great Firewall. The site’s core service is to maintain up‑to‑date mirrors that users can reach despite DNS filtering and IP blocking.

The 2015 DDoS incident illustrates the scale of the operation, showing that normal traffic was amplified 2,500 times to reach 2.6 billion hourly requests, which drove cloud‑hosting costs to roughly $30,000 per day. This event highlights the organisation’s reliance on external cloud infrastructure and its visibility as a target for state‑linked disruption tactics, including DNS poisoning and attempts to intercept encrypted communications. Its distinguishing attribute is the activist nature of its operation, combining technical mirroring with a mission to preserve information access despite political pressure. The attack was documented in a March 20 2015 article by The Register, which described the scale of the traffic surge and its financial impact.

The prompt does not specify any parent company, subsidiary relationships or formal ownership structure, so no explicit structural details can be provided. Administrators have publicly sought technical assistance to mitigate attacks, indicating a reliance on volunteer expertise and community support. The organisation continues to operate from its headquarters in China, adapting its mirroring strategy in response to ongoing censorship challenges.