Internet archive hit by cyberattacks: User data exposed online
Internet Archive is a project that collects archived versions of web pages. It has fallen victim to hackers, resulting in the data of tens of millions of registered users being leaked online, including email addresses.
The Internet Archive's website is temporarily down, and visitors are advised to check the organization's official accounts on platforms like Twitter/X, Bluesky, or Mastodon for the most recent updates. A message on the site also apologizes for the disruption.
Internet Archive, a non-profit organisation, was founded in 1996 by programmer Brewster Kahle. One of its most renowned "products" is the "Wayback Machine." This feature allows users to see how websites appeared and what content they featured in the past. It also stores copies of images and books, serving as a kind of "internet archive," its resources include 700 billion different types of internet content.
Internet users' data leaked online
According to Bleeping Computer, the first to report the hacking attack, the user data leak occurred at the end of September. Hackers released a file of about 6.4 gigabytes online. It contains the data of registered users, including email addresses, passwords encrypted with Bcrypt, screen names, and other internal data.
The service notes that it remains unclear how the attackers accessed the Internet Archive or if any additional data was compromised.
Moreover, a few days ago, the Internet Archive became a victim of another hacking attack, a DDoS attack (a cyberattack on a website using multiple computers simultaneously), reportedly carried out by BlackMeta.
"While the Internet Archive is facing both a data breach and DDoS attacks at the same, it is not believed that the two attacks are connected," emphasises Bleeping Computer.
