Internet Archive's WayBack Machine
3 Facebook x.com Reddit
A security breach of the Internet Archive's “WayBack Machine” resulted in the theft of an authentication database containing data on 31 million people.
The “WayBack Machine” was an invaluable resource, capturing snapshots of the Internet for posterity. However, it has become the latest site to be targeted by hackers, and the latest attack has affected millions of people.
The archive.org hack was revealed on Wednesday, caused by an unusual JavaScript warning created by the hacker, Bleeping Computer reports. The warning taunted the site's users, but also confirmed that it had taken place.
“Have you ever felt like the Internet Archive runs on flash drives and is constantly on the verge of a catastrophic security breach?” the text reads. “It just happened. See 31 million of you on HIBP!”
“HIBP” refers to Have I Been Pwned, a site that shares information about breaches and notifies victims when they occur. Troy Hunt, the creator of Have I Been Pwned, confirmed to the publication that the hackers shared the authentication database nine days earlier.
The 6.4 gigabyte database contains authentication data for registered users, including email addresses, usernames, password change timestamps, Bcrypt hashed passwords, and other types of internal data. The database contains approximately 31 million unique email addresses.
Hunt disclosed his receipt of the database to the Internet Archive, saying the data would be included in Have I Been Pwned 72 hours later. However, the Internet Archive has not contacted Hunt or publicly disclosed information about the leak.
The data leak, which affected 31 million users, is just one of a number of issues affecting the Internet Archive. It is currently dealing with a DDoS attack from the hacktivist group BlackMeta, and that group has also promised more attacks.
Follow AppleInsider on Google News
