MIT website hacked: Anonymous venges Aaron Swartz's suicide

[Mecasickle]

Game changer for grad school applications and decisions?

www.mit.edu doesn't work for me at the current time and part of the world. Is anyone else experiencing the same problem?

Edited January 14, 2013 by Mecasickle

[Faraday]

It doesn't work for me either. It was probably a DDoS attack and I imagine the website will be back up by tomorrow morning, I don't think this will be a "game changer". No need to stress out any more than your usual level as you wait to hear back from schools...

Edited January 14, 2013 by Faraday

[Mecasickle]

People at Tech Crunch with more specs:

Two more websites were down :doj.gov and w3.gov

http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/13/mit-edu-doj-gov-w3-gov-all-currently-down-following-investigation-into-swartz-tragedy/

[Usmivka]

Depression is a complicated illness, and although I don't doubt that Swartz's legal troubles compounded the situation, it is really hard to blame anyone else for his mental health. Attacking MIT seems off base to me, but I get that others feel differently. In case anyone is interested, here is a letter from the MIT president:

 

"To the members of the MIT community:

 

Yesterday we received the shocking and terrible news that on Friday in New York, Aaron Swartz, a gifted young man well known and admired by many in the MIT community, took his own life. With this tragedy, his family and his friends suffered an inexpressible loss, and we offer our most profound condolences. Even for those of us who did not know Aaron, the trail of his brief life shines with his brilliant creativity and idealism.

 

Although Aaron had no formal affiliation with MIT, I am writing to you now because he was beloved by many members of our community and because MIT played a role in the legal struggles that began for him in 2011.

 

I want to express very clearly that I and all of us at MIT are extremely saddened by the death of this promising young man who touched the lives of so many. It pains me to think that MIT played any role in a series of events that have ended in tragedy.

 

I will not attempt to summarize here the complex events of the past two years. Now is a time for everyone involved to reflect on their actions, and that includes all of us at MIT. I have asked Professor Hal Abelson to lead a thorough analysis of MIT's involvement from the time that we first perceived unusual activity on our network in fall 2010 up to the present. I have asked that this analysis describe the options MIT had and the decisions MIT made, in order to understand and to learn from the actions MIT took. I will share the report with the MIT community when I receive it.

 

I hope we will all reach out to those members of our community we know who may have been affected by Aaron's death. As always, MIT Medical is available to provide expert counseling, but there is no substitute for personal understanding and support.

 

With sorrow and deep sympathy,

 

L. Rafael Reif"

[fuzzylogician]

Email is down too. Looks like they attacked the routers, people on campus could still access mit internal sites and google (but nothing else, apparently). Most other things are back online now (Stellar, athena, libraries, scripts), but web.mit.edu is still down.

[Usmivka]

I'm still getting email through outlook...do you have a desktop server setup, or are you trying to pull straight from the owa website?

[fuzzylogician]

I'm pulling from the owa website. Nothing critical, though, I'm sure it'll be back online soon too.

[Mecasickle]

Alright, MIT website seems working again, can anyone else confirm? (I hope they didn't sabotage the admissions process haha)

Edited January 14, 2013 by Mecasickle