Internet Archive Under Siege: Data Breach and Attacks

The Internet Archive faces critical threats from hackers, risking the loss of invaluable web history.

### The Internet Archive Under Siege: A Crisis of Data Breaches and Attacks
* ⚠ The Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, a vital resource that has been archiving the web since 1996, is currently facing a major crisis, including a **significant data breach** that exposed **31 million email addresses and password hashes**.
* 🖥 With over **890 billion archived web pages** amounting to nearly **100 petabytes of data**, the integrity of this vast archive is at risk, as hackers may potentially **erase crucial parts of internet history**.
* 🔒 Brewster Kahle, the founder of the Internet Archive, has been an advocate for **universal access to knowledge**, but the organization is now grappling with **severe legal and security challenges**, including a recent lawsuit that could cost them **over $600 million**.
* 💻 The timeline of the recent attacks began on **September 30th**, when the breach was first reported, leading to a series of DDoS attacks that have **rendered the website offline** as of **October 10th**.
* 🛡 An activist group named Black Meta has claimed responsibility for the ongoing attacks, citing a **political agenda**, though their motives remain **unclear and seem disconnected from their stated goals**.
* 📉 Kahle humorously noted the persistent DDoS attacks have been ongoing since May, but the situation turned dire with a **website defacement that revealed the breach** before it was officially disclosed.
* 💔 "If you let the internet archive go now, that'll be the **end of it**," warns the narrator, emphasizing the **importance of this repository of digital history** and the **potential consequences of losing it**.
* 🎥 As the Internet Archive continues to fight against these threats, the future of this **invaluable resource** remains uncertain, leaving many to wonder about the **fate of the web's collective memory**.

Have you ever felt like the Internet Archive runs on sticks and stones and is constantly on the verge of a major security breach? It just happened. That was the ominous message that greeted me yesterday when I visited the Wayback Machine, one of the most important websites in the history of the internet because it literally archives the history of the Internet. It's been taking snapshots of websites, including their HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and images since 1996, allowing us to remember the worldwide web in its peak form when Amazon looked like this and weird people made weird websites just for fun. Unlike nowadays where everybody just chases algorithms on cringe factories like TikTok and Instagram. Unfortunately, the fate of this website hangs in the balance as it's currently getting pwned, boned, and owned from multiple angles. A data breach exposed 31 million email addresses and password hashes. Its Open Library lost a critical legal battle. Its website was defaced with some JavaScript graffiti. It's been getting DDoS non-stop, and its current status is offline as we speak.

what the hell is going on at the internet archive? It is October 10th, 2024, and you're watching the report. The Wayback Machine contains over 890 billion archived web pages, weighing in at nearly 100 petabytes. It's an unimaginable amount of data. Like, if you look at one web page every second for the next 100 years, you would have looked at less than 1% of the total archive. And this data is practically irreplaceable. The only company that might be able to replace it is Google, but Google recently stopped using its own cached archive in its search results and now points to, you guessed it, the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. Now, we don't know if the hackers have access to the archived website data, but if they do, and they might, they have the power to erase the history of the worldwide web. Before we untangle this mess, you should first know who Brewster Kahle is: an advocate for universal access to all knowledge and the digital librarian who started the nonprofit Internet Archive back in

'96 and times were different back then. You could buy a house in San Francisco or Seattle and start a company, and the internet archive could easily be a multi-billion dollar company. But instead, it's a free nonprofit service that benefits the world. Not everybody's a fan though. You might want those unhinged posts he wrote on the Temple of the Screaming Electron to be erased forever. The internet archive will remove personal data and comply with GDPR, but some people want legitimate content to be memory-holed forever. In addition, the internet archive also offers a service called Open Library, which was founded by Kale along with the late Aaron Schwartz. It digitizes physical books, then allows one digital copy to be lended out for each physical copy that's owned. It sounds reasonable, but they were sued recently by a bunch of publishers claiming copyright infringement, and the publishers won that lawsuit, which could result in over $600 million in damages. That was a big L, but now let's move to the timeline of the recent hacks. Hibp.

which is not an STD, but rather a website that helps people find out if their data has been compromised in a data breach. was informed of the internet archive's data breach on September 30th. It's confirmed on October 5th. The internet archive gets notified on October 6th and provides a 72-hour window before making the data breach public on October 8th. Brewster Kale posts about a DOS attack occurring, joking about it coming on a Tuesday instead of a Monday because the internet archive has been facing aggressive DOS attacks going all the way back to May. He posts again on October 9th, but this time it's a lot more somber. The website is defaced with some JavaScript library, which triggers an alert message about the data breach before it's been officially disclosed. Then finally, as of right now on October 10th, the website is still being attacked and is completely offline. Things are not looking good, but that brings up a big question: what sort of sick, twisted hacker would want to mess with the

internet archive and why. Well, an activist group called Black Meta is claiming responsibility and will continue to attack until all their sister are completely down. And just an hour ago, they posted this crazy [Music] video. I found it kind of funny because it uses a lot of the same stock photography that I use in my videos. In the video, they say they're not a bunch of teenagers, which means that they're probably just a bunch of teenagers. They have a political message about the situation in the Middle East, which doesn't make a ton of sense because attacking the internet archive isn't going to make people like you, which means the only explanation is that it's a false flag. Now, I have no idea who the real hacker is, but I'm sure you're watching this video right now, and I have a message for you. If you let the internet archive go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you. I will not pursue you. But if you so much as delete a single website in that archive,

I will look for you. I will find you, and I will kill you. This has been the code report. Thanks for watching, and I will see you in the next one.

Hackers are destroying the Internet's history book right now

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The Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, crucial for archiving the web's history since 1996, is currently facing a major crisis.

A data breach has exposed 31 million email addresses and password hashes, while the organization has also lost a critical legal battle and faced continuous DDoS attacks.

With over 890 billion archived web pages and 100 petabytes of data, the potential impact of the hackers gaining access to this information could be devastating for the history of the worldwide web.

The Internet Archive's Struggles and Controversies

The Internet Archive, a nonprofit service, offers to remove personal data and comply with GDPR, but faces criticism for wanting to memory-hole legitimate content.

The Open Library, founded by Kale and Aaron Schwartz, digitizes physical books but recently lost a lawsuit from publishers, resulting in potential damages of over $600 million.

The Internet Archive has been facing aggressive DOS attacks since May, with a recent data breach confirmed on October 5th, and as of October 10th, the website is still offline due to ongoing attacks.

Black Meta's Attack on the Internet Archive

An activist group called Black Meta is claiming responsibility for attacking the Internet Archive and plans to continue until their goals are met.

They posted a humorous music video using stock photography, claiming they're not just teenagers, despite their questionable motives.

The group's political message about the Middle East seems unrelated to their actions, leading to speculation about a possible false flag operation.

The speaker expresses a strong intention to find and harm someone.

The message is delivered with a sense of determination.

The report concludes with a farewell and a promise to return.