Are hackers destroying the Internet Archive? (film, 5m)
The Internet Archive has found itself in serious trouble in recent days. Brewster Kahle, the creator of this invaluable online treasury, has been fighting for universal access to knowledge for years. Unfortunately, a major security breach recently occurred — exposing the data of 31 million email addresses and passwords, while the site was also defaced, creating severe accessibility problems. We now know that the hacktivist group Black Meta claims responsibility for these attacks, but their motivations remain unclear. Regardless, such an attack on the Internet Archive is an attack on the entire compendium of knowledge that this project has sustained since 1996.
The Wayback Machine, a service that archives websites, is an indispensable tool that houses information about over 890 billion web pages since the early days of the internet. That is 100 petabytes of data, which is not only enormous but also priceless, as it reflects the evolution of the web. Unfortunately, some users are worried about whether this data might be in the hands of hackers. Google’s support for this project, which previously provided its own Archives in search results, no longer exists, emphasizing how crucial the Internet Archive is for users.
Kahle and his team make sure to comply with privacy regulations, adapting their operations to requirements like GDPR. However, people have different opinions about what should remain in the archive. Services offered by the Archive, such as Open Library, may provoke controversy, especially after a lawsuit by publishers, resulting in $600 million in damages. Publishers see this situation as a threat to copyright, complicating the Internet Archive's mission.
The latest events in the timeline of the Internet Archive data breach trace back to September 30, when the breach was disclosed. Confirmation of the incident occurred on October 5, with the Internet Archive team publicly announcing the situation only after a 72-hour waiting period. The DDoS attack that happened shortly before the public statement exacerbated the situation. Such attacks are nothing new, and currently, the Internet Archive remains completely offline.
As the situation unfolds, the internet community asks itself what motivations might lie behind these attacks. An interview mentioned the group Black Meta, who announced further attacks until the entire system is completely destabilized. Despite their political statements regarding international conflicts, the manner of their actions raises many doubts. As of the time of writing this article, statistics show that the Internet Archive has been visited by over 1.9 million users, with more than 107 thousand likes on materials regarding this dramatic situation. This highlights the vast support for this unique project and illustrates how critical the actions taken in this matter are.
Toggle timeline summary
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Introduction to concerns about the Internet Archive's security and recent breaches.
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Overview of the Wayback Machine and its significance in archiving the internet since 1996.
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Description of the current vulnerabilities faced by the Internet Archive, including a data breach and website defacement.
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Statistical information about the vast amount of data archived by the Wayback Machine.
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Concerns about potential access by hackers to archived data.
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Introduction of Brewster Kahle, the founder of the Internet Archive, and its non-profit status.
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Discussion on the Open Library service and the recent legal challenges regarding copyright.
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Timeline of recent hacks and data breach notifications.
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Brewster Kahle's updates on ongoing DDoS attacks and site defacement incidents.
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Questions raised about the motives behind attacks on the Internet Archive, including claims by a hacktivist group.
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Humorous commentary on the hacker group's message and the irony of their motives.
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Final warning to hackers not to destroy archived websites.
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Closing remarks and thanks for watching.
Transcription
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 World Wide 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 DDoSed 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 Code Report. The Wayback Machine contains over 890 billion archived webpages, weighing in at nearly 100 petabytes. It's an unimaginable amount of data. Like, if you look at one webpage 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 World Wide 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 non-profit Internet Archive back in 96. 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 non-profit service that benefits the world. Not everybody's a fan, though. You might want those unhinged posts you 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 Kahle along with the late Aaron Swartz. 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. HIVP, 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 provide a 72-hour window before making the data breach public. On October 8th, Brewster Kahle posts about a DDoS attack occurring, joking about it coming on a Tuesday instead of a Monday, because the Internet Archive has been facing aggressive DDoS 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, a hacktivist group called Black Meta is claiming responsibility, and will continue to attack until all their systems are completely down. And just an hour ago, they posted this crazy 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.