The Internet Archive, known for its vast collection of digital resources, has resumed operations but with limited functionality after a severe security breach. Hackers accessed user data, affecting 31 million accounts, leading the nonprofit to temporarily take the site offline. Although users can once again browse archived content, the ability to save new web pages remains disabled.
Breach Affects Millions of Users
Following the major cyberattack, the Internet Archive decided to restrict its services. Usernames, emails, and encrypted passwords were among the compromised data, leading to concerns about the platform’s vulnerability. Brewster Kahle, the founder of the Archive, confirmed the theft of personal data, but reassured the public that archived content itself remained unaffected.
In light of the DDoS attack that we carried out on the Internet Archive, we felt that it was of extreme importance to address some misconceptions about our actions and clarify who we are as a group, SN_DARKMETA. Quite the contrary to popular belief, we do not work and we are not…
— _ (@Sn_darkmeta) October 13, 2024
The hacker group responsible, SN_Blackmeta, claimed the attack was politically motivated. They posted a message alleging that it was part of their protest against the U.S. government. Despite the justification, many questioned the logic of targeting a nonprofit dedicated to preserving the web’s history.
System Overhaul Underway
After the incident, Kahle and his team began implementing changes to bolster the Archive’s security. The downtime was used to update internal systems and ensure that similar breaches would be harder to pull off in the future. One of the Archive’s top priorities was to protect its collection of over 840 billion web pages, which was never in jeopardy during the attack.
The DDoS attacks that followed only added to the challenges. These attempts to overwhelm the Archive’s servers caused further disruptions, leaving users without access to the site for days. The team continues to work on restoring full functionality, but progress is gradual.
Limited Access, No Captures
Right now, the Internet Archive is back in read-only mode, meaning users can look up previously archived content but can’t save new web pages. Essential services like email accounts for the team and the site’s crawlers for institutions like national libraries are slowly coming back online.
The @internetarchive’s Wayback Machine resumed in a provisional, read-only manner.
Sorry, no Save Page Now yet.
Safe to resume but might need further maintenance, in which case it will be suspended again.
Please be gentle https://t.co/sb5tlvxQ26
More as it happens.
— Brewster Kahle (@brewster_kahle) October 14, 2024
With the ability to add new content on hold, this limitation has raised concerns among users who rely on the platform for web preservation. Kahle acknowledged these concerns, saying that restoring the capture feature is a top priority. However, the team is proceeding cautiously to avoid further vulnerabilities.
Last Updated on November 7, 2024 2:35 pm CET