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2024 Internet Archive Hack

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Updated Oct 11, 2024 at 12:27PM EDT by Zach.

Added Oct 11, 2024 at 06:11AM EDT by sakshi.

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Overview

The 2024 Internet Archive Hack took place between October 9th and October 11th, 2024, with the site suffering a data breach that compromised over 31 million users, as well as a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack that brought down Archive.org and Openlibrary.org. A "hacktivist" group that goes by BlackMeta on X / Twitter claimed responsibility for the DDoS attack, claiming to be motivated by the Internet Archive's supposed connection to the U.S. government and by extension the government of Israel. Several internet users remained skeptical of this reasoning, given that the Internet Archive is a non-profit organization neither owned by the U.S. government nor claims to contribute to Israel, with some rumors speculating that the hackers were actually based in Russia.

Background

On October 8th, 2024, Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle made a post on X noting that the site was under a DDoS attack.[1]


: Brewster Kahle @brewster_kahle DDOS on a tuesday? Last time it was a monday. Geez. @internetarchive is working to restore services on archive.org. 5:11 PM - Oct 8, 2024 262.1K Views

Later that day, Internet Archive users reported a JavaScript pop-up message claiming that the site had been hacked and that 31 million user accounts had been compromised. The message read, "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!," where HIBP refers to the site "Have I Been Pwned?"[2]


archive.org says 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! OK

Have I Been Pwned founder Troy Hunt confirmed the data breach, telling cybersecurity news site Bleeping Computer[3] that the hackers had shared the Internet Archive's authentication database with his site, including "email addresses, screen names, password change timestamps, Bcrypt-hashed passwords, and other internal data."

News of the hack was shared on the subreddit /r/technology[6] by Redditor /u/MayankWL on October 9th, 2024, where it gathered over 11,000 upvotes in a day. The JavaScript message was shared on /r/PCMasterrace[7] on October 9th as well, where Redditor /u/MrJWST gathered over 5,000 upvotes in a day.

Several X accounts posted about the hack on October 9th, 2024, including @LostMediaBuster[8] and @vxunderground,[9] the latter of which was mistakenly blamed for the hack.

Developments

On October 9th, 2024, the X[4] account @Sn_darkmeta (AKA BlackMeta) made a series of posts claiming responsibility for the DDoS attack on the Internet Archive, writing, "[The Internet Archive is] under attack because the archive belongs to the USA, and as we all know, this horrendous and hypocritical government supports the genocide that is being carried out by the terrorist state of 'Israel.'"


SN_BLACKMETA @Sn_darkmeta They are under attack because the archive belongs to the USA, and as we all know, this horrendous and hypocritical government supports the genocide that is being carried out by the terrorist state of "Israel". 3:54 PM • Oct 9, 2024 657.7K Views ...

When pressed on the services Internet Archive provides for countries like Lebanon and Palestine, the account[5] wrote, "They need peace not ….internet archive."


RetroM @RetroM11 Oct 9, 2024 Replying to @Sn_darkmeta and @Vestboy_Myst You do realize that the Internet Archive is a nonprofit organization that is in no way connected to the US government or Israel, right? But then I shouldn't expect much from a supposed "hacker" group that paid Elon for a blue check. 3 107 7.6K Ill 88K ㅁ @Sn_darkmeta · Oct 9, 2024 SN_BLACKMETA Who said we paid whit our money for the bleu check :) 28 1721 ❤ 11 Ill 91K Show replies The Katie Halper Show @KatieHalperShow Oct 9, 2024 Replying to @Sn_darkmeta and @Vestboy_Myst what are your demands? what if palestine lebanon iran etc need to use archive site? they are using it in the struggle to fight for freedom 3 175 672 Il 37K SN_BLACKMETA @Sn_darkmeta · Oct 9, 2024 They need peace not....internet archive 26 1720 Show replies 6 lil 40K ㅁ ...

Speculation over the hackers behind the attack continued to emerge over the following days, with several claiming it was a Russian group.[17] Numerous Redditors on October 10th, 2024, discussed and theorized that the hack originated from Russia based on timezones, location and language, speculating that it was orchestrated to be inflammatory, cause division and was not genuinely from a pro-Palestine group.[13][14]

For example, on October 10th, Redditor Corronchilejano made a comment on a post to the /r/technology[15] subreddit about the hack claiming that the group claims to be pro-Palestinian but is entirely based in Russia. They included a link and quote to a July 2024 article by The Record[16] covering SN_BLACKMETA that stated:

SN_BLACKMETA has operated its Telegram channel since November 2023, boasting of DDoS incidents and cyberattacks on infrastructure in Israel, the Palestinian Territories and elsewhere. While all of the group’s messages focus on the Palestinian Territories and perceived opponents to Palestine, many of its posts are written in Russian.

The group’s account on X also shows that it was created by someone in Staraya, a town in Novgorod Oblast, Russia. The account’s initial language was also set to Russian.

The researchers added that analysis of timestamps and activity patterns showed possible evidence that the actors within the group are operating in a timezone “close to Moscow Standard Time (MSK, UTC+3) or other Middle Eastern or Eastern European time zones (UTC+2 to UTC+4).”

Online Reactions

Several internet users condemned the DDoS attack on the Internet Archive, with X[10] user @tgzerosugar gathering over 100,000 likes on an October 9th, 2024 post that read, "Internet Archive is seriously one of those sites that we shouldn’t be trying to hack or take down."


Trenton @tgzerosugar Internet Archive is seriously one of those sites that we shouldn't be trying to hack or take down LMB Lost Media Busters @LostMediaBuster Oct 9 Gulp. archive.org says 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! 5:17 PM - Oct 9, 2024 2.8M Views OK ...

Also on October 9th, X[11] user @PineappleCarl3 quoted the hacker group BlackMeta's post with a meme calling them a federal agent, gathering over 61,000 likes in two days.


BloodCarl @PineappleCarl3. Oct 9, 2024 >literal who hacker group >twitter account made back in march of this year >targets free information >claims to be from russia >claims to be pro-palestinian FED posts "Worst Bait Ever" B PARTMENT FED OF JUSTICE OF INVES IGATION VESTIGA BUREAU Asked To Leave the SN_BLACKMETA g trouble findi ve.org. Did you mean to go @Sn_darkmeta ⚫ Oct 9 Federal Bureau of Investigation The Internet archive has and is suffering from a devastating attack We have been launching several highly successful attacks for five long hours and, to this moment, all their systems are completely down. ...

On October 10th, 2024, the X[12] account @vxunderground noted that their post about the DDoS attack on Internet Archive had been mistaken for them claiming responsibility for the attack, gathering over 6,000 likes in a day.


DERGROU vx-underground @vxunderground > go online > see internet archive defaced > comment on the ddos / compromise > give more information in follow up post > non-nerds find post > blame us Matthew Horwood F------ 8:28 AM William OUTFIT REPEATER F------ p---- bitch. Not good enough at your job to hack/ruin something that actually holds weight? Like a government entity or politician? You had to ruin something that is essentially a free online library kill yourself 5:25 AM Kay the Brainrot @KayBrainrot - 14h You m-----------. Internet Archive was one of the best, most resourceful sites of the entire history of the Internet. You literally could've hacked into any corrupt site, or government official, but instead you do the online equivalent of nuking a museum. 0 @zegro - 2h you damned laggard Silky The Body @AmazonYvie 42m you mfs can't do anything useful Mason J. Campbell @voiceofsplice-2h F--- you joshua miles @itsjoshuamiles 2h respectfully, go f--- yourself 7:55 AM You accepted the request Did you retards check that the archive was non-profit, non- US? You didn't nothing you bitch 7:57 AM st the cryo (FREE) @frostbitecryo-th You wasted resources on what it's considered the digital version of library of Alexandria and you f------ burned it all to the ground KORONEVI (STREAM TROUBLE "WANDER) ♥I @DoggoVir-9h... Genuinely what the actual hell is wrong with you? I hope you get hit by a Prius BRAAAAYYYYns Jill/Emily @4ERESYOURLETTER-40m I hope people invade your house and kick the s--- out of you unironically ◆picto@pictospark-2h why cant u like hack the pentagon or anything else instead of Inconveniencing everyone with the internet archive like seriously what was the point of this cut man (din-003) DRN 003 15h You f------ have the resources to hack all corrupt goverment officials in the world but instead you target one of the msot helpful resources on the web Genuinely how little love have you received in your life TheGBrayMiller th This is the Internet's equivalent of burning the Library of Alexandria. You despicable m-----------. cat poob evstcracker th where do you live Animallover24678 (HEARTS Is this real IWE ARE SO CONTINUED @thicccat-th F--- YOU I WAS WATCHING UNIKITTY WITH MY SISTER F--- YOU FYCKYOU F------ 9:44 AM • Oct 10, 2024 270.9K Views

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Top Comments

Ten Shadows
Ten Shadows

This shit's about on the same level as throwing soup at paintings. How about you hacked actual government sites if you're so fucking upset.

What, that'd be too difficult for you? Too well defended sites? Might actually end up going in jail for it?

Then fuck off, you cowards, you don't really believe in shit.

+94

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