Online drug marketplace Silk Road, used by drug dealers to sell drugs and other prohibited items, has been hit with a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack.
The online marketplace can only be accessed through a service known as Tor that lets users to browse anonymously online.
After two days (30 April- 01 May 2013) of irregular service, Silk Road’s supervisor reported that the site had resumed operations, while they could not prohibit downtime.
The site’s administrator Dread Pirate Roberts said Silk Road is open and accessible.
"It is incredibly discouraging to have everything we’ve worked so hard for taken down by some anonymous and malevolent person," Roberts said.
"The attacks being used against us MUST be overcome if Silk Road and any anonymous public sites are to have a future."
According to the 2013 Global Drug Survey, Silk Road has gained an ill repute same as eBay for drugs, in which consumers use the anonymous and untraceable online currency Bitcoin.
Nearly one third of surveyed revealed that they knew the Silk Road marketplace, while 14% already had an account on the site and browsed its products.
