The Internet Archive, a global digital library, has suffered a significant security breach and a DDoS attack, compromising data of 31 million accounts.
What Happened: Visitors to The Internet Archive encountered a pop-up message indicating a hack. The site’s founder, Brewster Kahle, later confirmed the breach, which involved a defacement of the website via a JavaScript library.
The pop-up message stated, “Have you ever felt like the Internet Archive runs on sticks and is constantly on the verge of suffering a catastrophic security breach? It just happened. See 31 million of you on HIBP!”
HIBP, or Have I Been Pwned? – is a platform where users can verify if their data has been exposed to cyber-attacks.
Troy Hunt, the operator of HIBP, confirmed receiving a file containing data for 31 million unique email addresses nine days before the breach. The data included email addresses, screen names, password change timestamps, Bcrypt-hashed passwords, and other internal data.
After the breach, the site was hit by a DDoS attack, confirmed by Jason Scott, an archivist and software curator of the Internet Archive. The site was temporarily offline, displaying a placeholder message directing visitors to the site’s account on X for updates.
An account on X named SN_Blackmeta claimed responsibility for the attack and hinted at another possible attack the next day. The Internet Archive has been a target of similar attacks in the past.
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Why It Matters: The Internet Archive, home to 835 billion web pages, has been grappling with a problem known as “link rot,” the phenomenon of disappearing web pages. A study by the Pew Research Center revealed that 38% of web pages that existed in 2013 have disappeared, and 8% of those from 2023 are now missing.
Despite the challenges, the Internet Archive has received support from influential figures like Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk, who has emphasized its significance as a "public good that should exist." This recent attack underscores the importance of robust security measures to protect such vital digital resources.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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