bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

knowledgeQuestion

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Christy Choi

Adam Martin

Facebook users in Hong Kong feared a 30-minute blackout yesterday was part of cyberattacks that have been linked to the Occupy Central movement.
The social media giant went down across the world at about 3.50pm Hong Kong time, setting off a flurry of panicked messages on other social media.
Users who tried to log into Facebook received an error page that simply said: "Sorry, something went wrong. We're working on getting this fixed as soon as we can."
Hong Kong users speculated on Twitter that there had been a distributed-denial-of-service attack, similar to recent attacks on the website of newspaper Apple Daily - known for its pro-democracy stance - which resulted in only limited access to its online editions on Wednesday.
The popvote.hk website, built by the University of Hong Kong and Polytechnic University, has sustained similar attacks ahead of Occupy Central's "referendum" on electoral reform, which begins today and will finish on June 29.
"#Facebookdown is big deal in jittery #HK," wrote former journalist Yuen Chan, on Twitter.
Others were not so concerned, and made jokes about the blackout.
"Don't be afraid, those strange noises you are experiencing are other people talking to you. #facebookdown," tweeted Markus Beyer.
In a statement the California-based company said: "Earlier this morning, we experienced an issue that prevented people from posting to Facebook for a brief period of time. We resolved the issue quickly, and we are now back to 100 per cent. We're sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused."
The company did not explain the reason for the lost service.
Facebook's last substantial blackout came in 2010, when it went down for more than two hours due to a server error that could only be fixed by turning off its site to reduce traffic loads.
Facebook, which had more than two billion active users in March, is one of the world's most-accessed internet services.
News of the blackout spurred the hashtag Facebookdown to be referenced on Twitter more than 49,000 times within an hour, according to Topsy, a US social media analytics company.
Meanwhile, users of the popular mobile messaging app Line have been told to change their passwords after 303 cases of unauthorised access in Japan were confirmed between late May and June 14, including three that involved cash trades resulting in financial losses. Line said the problem was not with its security but with users failing to take care of their passwords.
 


Nothing brings Hongkongers and mainland Chinese closer together than sports

Former Hong Kong politician ‘major backer’ of firearms purchase from US in ‘Dragon Slaying Brigade’ plot, court hears

Article 23 and the tragedy of Hong Kong

Hong Kong national security law: who are the 8 targeted with HK$1 million bounties? Calls for sanctions, links to 2019 protests among alleged offences

Occupy Central

Hacking fears as Facebook crashes

Photo: Reuters

Facebook went down across the world at about 3.50pm Hong Kong time, setting off a flurry of panicked messages on other social media. Photo: Reuters

News

Hong Kong

Worldwide blackout of social media giant prompts concern in city of further cyberattacks as Occupy Central launches 'referendum' vote


Facebook users in Hong Kong feared a 30-minute blackout yesterday was part of cyberattacks that have been linked to the Occupy Central movement.
