Internet Archive Experiences Catastrophic Hack, 31 Million Accounts Impacted — Wayback Machine Down
The Internet Archive experienced a catastrophic hack this week, exposing 31 million accounts and taking the archive completely offline. The Wayback Machine is down, as are the preserved recordings from old 78 rpm records that landed the foundation in a legal dispute with seven record companies.
The hack was first noticed by netizens on Wednesday evening, as visitors were greeted with a pop up stating, “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!”
The HIBP refers to the website Have I Been Pwned? which tracks data breaches and allows users to see if their personal information has been compromised. Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle confirmed the attack. The site stopped loading on Thursday and now anyone visiting the Internet Archive is greeted with a message, “The Internet Archive services are temporarily offline” with a redirection to social media for updates.
Internet Archive Experiences Catastrophic Hack, Remains Down