WikiLeaks' website vicitim of sustained attack

THE secret-busting organisation WikiLeaks says it's been the victim of a sustained denial-of-service attack which has left its website sluggish or inaccessible for more than a week.

The group said the assault intensified around the beginning of August and has since expanded to include attacks against affiliated sites.

Denial-of-service attacks work by overwhelming websites with requests for information. WikiLeaks has said it's been flooded with 10 gigabits per second of bogus traffic from thousands of different internet addresses.

Josh Corman, with online content delivery company Akamai, characterised that as "a bit larger" than attacks commonly seen in the past few years.

-  AP