Access to the Thirty Meter Telescope’s website continued to be disrupted Monday by denial-of-service attacks, a spokeswoman said.
The attacks are meant to overwhelm a website with communication requests, making it difficult or impossible for others to access. They began Sunday morning and targeted websites for TMT and the state of Hawaii.
“Operation Green Rights,” a self-described affiliate of the Anonymous hackers group, announced the attacks on its website and Twitter page Sunday morning.
The state’s website (www.hawaii.gov) was not impacted Monday, said Keith DeMello, senior communications manager with the state Office of Information Management and Technology.
Sandra Dawson, TMT spokeswoman, said the TMT site (www.tmt.org) itself hasn’t been breached, but the attacks remained constant.
“We’re still under attack, and we’re doing everything we can to protect ourselves,” she said. “We’re constantly adjusting and fixing things.”
DeMello said the state’s website also wasn’t breached.
Federal authorities are notified as a matter of protocol, he said.
“This is mainly a traffic issue,” DeMello said.
OGR posted a statement on its website Sunday in support of those protesting the TMT.
“Nothing will ever justify the destruction of ecosystems; filthy money can never replace them. Stand with the Hawaiian natives against #TMT,” the website said.
The website (www.operationgreenrights.blogspot.com) was launched in 2011. Past targets include Monsanto, FIFA and World Wildlife Fund.
Dawson said the TMT Observatory Corp. intends to move ahead with construction on Mauna Kea, disrupted April 2 when 31 protesters blocking construction crews were arrested.
However, she said she didn’t have an updated construction timeline.
“There are conversations happening at levels of state government and at the university and OHA (Office of Hawaiian Affairs),” she said.
The OHA Board of Trustees will host a meeting Thursday to discuss its support for the project.
TMT will be capable of seeing 13 billion light years away and will be more advanced than any existing ground-based optical telescope. It is scheduled to be operational in 2024.
Its members include California Institute of Technology, University of California regents, and astronomy institutions in China, Japan, and India.
Email Tom Callis at tcallis@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
