A woman scans the WikiLeaks site and, at right, a...

A woman scans the WikiLeaks site and, at right, a photo of WikiLeaks-founder Julian Assange. (Nov. 30, 2010) Credit: AFP/Getty Images

The WikiLeaks website says it’s under a forceful Internet-based attack, and the site is inaccessible to users in U.S. and Europe.

The site, which just distributed a trove of U.S. diplomatic documents, said in a Twitter message on Tuesday morning that it’s under a "distributed denial of service attack," a method commonly used by hackers to slow down or bring down sites.

The site was under attack Sunday, but Tuesday’s attack appears to be more powerful. WikiLeaks said the malicious traffic was coming in at 10 gigabits per second, which would make it a relatively large effort.

The WikiLeaks site is hosted in Sweden and devoted to releasing  anonymously submitted documents.

Flu cases surge on LI ... Top holiday movies to see ... Visiting one of LI's best pizzerias Credit: Newsday

Wild weather on the way ... Flu cases surge on LI ... Top holiday movies to see ... Visiting one of LI's best pizzerias

Flu cases surge on LI ... Top holiday movies to see ... Visiting one of LI's best pizzerias Credit: Newsday

Wild weather on the way ... Flu cases surge on LI ... Top holiday movies to see ... Visiting one of LI's best pizzerias

SUBSCRIBE

Unlimited Digital AccessOnly 25¢for 6 months

ACT NOWSALE ENDS SOON | CANCEL ANYTIME