New York Magazine goes offline hours after posting Bill Cosby piece

Just hours after New York Magazine posted the striking cover of its latest issue, which features 35 women who have accused Bill Cosby of sexual assault, the publication’s site went down and has since been inaccessible.

Source: Twitter screenshot

Our site is experiencing technical difficulties. We are aware of the issue, and working on a fix.

— New York Magazine (@NYMag) July 27, 2015

While some have pegged the shutdown to increased traffic to the site, it could be the result of a hacker who has claimed responsibility for the attack on Twitter.

Early Monday morning, a Twitter user under the name ‘Vikingdom2016’ tweeted:

Lol, we ruined New York big night.

— Vikingdom2016 (@Vikingdom2016) July 27, 2015

The hacker goes by the name of ThreatKing and told The Daily Dot over a Skype call that the attack was unrelated to the women featured on the cover or even the magazine itself. He claimed that it stems from his dislike of New York City and therefore any magazines that bear its name.

Since the site has been down, he has tweeted:

Good News! XML Just broke http://t.co/zGfQXK3hku which means the site doesn't exist . THEIR DATABASE IS GONE :D FUCK YOU NEW YORK!

— Vikingdom2016 (@Vikingdom2016) July 27, 2015

But New York Magazine is working to provide other ways to access the article. It tweeted that even though the site is down, people can listen to 2 of the women’s testimonies regarding Cosby on Instagram.

Our site is still down but you can listen to 2 women's testimony about Cosby on Instagram https://t.co/GEoDc8pMF0 + https://t.co/CLlPl40cGS

— New York Magazine (@NYMag) July 27, 2015