WikiLeaks announced that its site was being attacked. (Credit: Twitter)

The WikiLeaks website was attacked yesterday, according to WikiLeaks.  The attacker is unknown, the Associated Press reported.

The Associated Press explained that the attack followed “the accelerated publication of tens of thousands of state department cables.”  The AP noted that WikiLeaks published “more than 125,000 sensitive documents” this week.

In an Aug. 29 statement on its website, WikiLeaks announced the latest publication is 133,887 cables — or “more than half the entire Cablegate material.”

WikiLeaks claimed that the bulk publication was to get more attention because “mainstream media organisations in Europe and the United States have slowed their rate of publishing Cablegate derived stories.”

Instead of “the misperception … WikiLeaks has been less active,” WikiLeaks claimed it has “stepped up its activity.”

The State Department again condemned the publication, stating that the cables’ release “puts individuals’ security at risk, threatens our national security and undermines our effort to work with countries to solve shared problems.”

The AP added that while earlier cables “had been vetted by media organisations who redacted them” to hide names and information deemed sensitive, this group of documents “have not been vetted in the same way.”

WikiLeaks tweeted at 10 PM EST that “WikiLeaks.org back. Nice try.”

A few minutes earlier, WikiLeaks responded to the Associated Press, denying that it has “lost a single one of over 90 partners, since separated from the Guardian for breeching their security agreements.”

Australia’s Attorney General

Australia’s attorney general, Robert McClelland, slammed the latest WikiLeaks cables, according to the BBC.  One cable in question reportedly provides the names of “Australian terror suspects.”

McClelland called the publication “incredibly irresponsible.”

WikiLeaks rejected claims that WikiLeaks identified any of its “sources,” according to the BBC.   In a tweet this morning at 9:46 AM EST, WikiLeaks claimed it “hass not released the names of any ‘informants.’ The material is unclassified and previously released by mainstream media.”

WikiLeaks also called for followers to download an “encrypted file.”  According to the Atlantic Wire, the file is “557.7 encrypted” and WikiLeaks will provide the “decryption key…at the appropriate moment.”