[ALERT] The Internet Archive is down and someone is trying to erase the internet history!
[ALERT] The Internet Archive is down and someone is trying to erase the internet history!
Remember October is Cybersecurity month when we should keep practicing safe methods for surfing the internet and managing data. Follow me to keep up to date with cyber security news, advice, resources, and more. My name is Genial Ingele, I am a cybersecurity expert certfied in cybersecurity by ISC2, Google and working on my CompTIA cert as well.
There is an alarming story that requires every internet user’s attention. The modern day Alexandria Library, officially known as “The Internet Archive”, has been offline for about a day now due to DDoS attacks. I will briefly break this article down to the important key points that need to be discussed.
- What is the Internet Archive?
- Why is it important?
- What happened to it exactly? And what does it have to do with Cybersecurity?
- What are the conspiracy theories?
- What is being done to restore it?
- How can you, as an internet user, help?
1. What is the Internet Archive ?
Created in 1996 by Brewster Kahle, The Internet Archive is a vast, open and nonprofit library whose main objective is access to knowledge for all[1]. They believe in knowledge being free and accessible no matter your background. Their target audience ranges from casual internet users, to tech geeks and even educational institutions such as, universities, colleges and schools. It has an impressive 866 billion archived web pages and counting[3].
This library has a powerful feature called The Way Back Machine. This tool allows you to see various versions of websites, apps, audios, videos, and resources since 1996[2]. Basically you can compare how Amazon used to look like in 2001 vs 2009. It takes snapshots of websites and keeps their HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files on its servers for you to access anytime, anywhere [3]. So you would literally feel as though you are using the website back in 2001 or playing your favourite games from the early 2000s. I myself have played a few fun games on the Internet Archive for nostalgia such as Zuma, 3D pinball, etc. and remembering the good old days when Windows XP came with built-in games that were fun and not overly addictive (well, okay, just a little bit). I even read in a YouTube video comment that a person’s child who is autistic learns a lot from the internet archive in an engaging manner.
As you can see, this is basically the present day Library of Alexandria a.k.a “The Great Library” which was one of biggest sources of information in ancient times during and after Julius Caesar’s rule. Unfortunately, this ancient library was made in Alexandria City, Egypt, c. 300 BCE to c. 275[4], and had been destroyed intitially by Julius Caesar, then Theophilus, then probably Emperors Aurelian or Diocletian, and wars that were happening at the time[6]. The destruction of The Great Library is quite a complex and debatable story but in summary it was done by multiple factors and a number of notable people.
2. Why is the internet archive important ?
You can find books, apps, software, educational resources, and so much more from 1996 to this day.
As mentioned above, it is the archive of the internet as its brilliant name suggests. This is not just for fun games and websites, this is also where very important information about internet history is kept as well as millions of books, a lot of which are public domain books[1]. Recently, on the 08th of October 2024, Leiden University Libraries in the Netherlands has collaborated with the Internet Archive to take over a vast collection of foreign dissertations which will be shared with the public[7]. Basically, the Internet Archive will make a digital version of those records and upload it on its digital library. In brief, the Internet Archive is a vast source of history about the internet, and it also serves as a platform that digitises physical records and makes it accessible to everyone who needs the knowledge[1]. This is not an easy task and I really believe that they are underrated for this great service that they offer.
3. What happened to it exactly? And what does it have to do with Cybersecurity?
The Internet Archive is allegedly experiencing heavy DDoS attacks that have overwhelmed its servers and therefore compromising the Confidentiality and Availability of its data. So far, not yet the Integrity though; which forms part of the CIA (Confidentially Integrity and Availability) Triad in Cybersecurity 101.
The DDoS attack happened on 10 October 2024 in the afternoon according to their official X page. In fact, these attacks have been happening for quite some time but right now, on 11 October 2024 07:22 AM SAST, the Internet Archive (www.archive.org) is sadly offline. And millions of user’s PII ( Personally Identifiable information) have been Pwned (exposed to the attackers). It is more than 31 million users to be exact[8]. So, email addresses, hashed passwords, usernames, and some internal data information of those users are in the hands of these terrorists[8][5].
The website has been defaced by the attackers by using a JavaScript library as Brewster stated on his X page on 10 October 2024. Please check if your information has not been exposed due to this attack on : https://haveibeenpwned.com/ or if you have been exposed, you will receive an email either way.
There is a group that claims responsiblity for this attack but I really don’t believe them because they sound like clout chasers to me. I don’t even want to mention them here.Ethical and I’m sure even unethical hackers are sharing the same sentiment that attacking an open and not for profit library is the lowest kind of low that a person can go and I 1000% agree. These types of organisations such as the Internet Archive should be protected and untouched from attackers. These so-called hackers are trying something really dangerous which can erase the history of the internet. And you should be concerned…
4. What are the conspiracy theories?
With big news, comes big conspiracies. I’ve already seen a dozen conspiracies on comments and some of them sort of make sense. I will not go through all of them though, just the ones that seem somewhat plausible.
First conspiracy theory: government is involved.
Remember how we talked about Julius Caesar and the emperors? Well, some people believe that history might be repeating itself where the internet archive will probably go through the same fate as the the Great Library of Alexandria. Why? Well, to control the amount and type of information that people can get access to in order to manupilate them. In summation, it’s all about politics according to this theory.
Second conspiracy theory: AI companies want to train their machines.
I will not name the AI companies that people are suspecting (I don’t want to get in trouble for defamation and false accusations 🤣). But you might have an idea of the big ones that could benefit from something like this to train and feed their machine learning models. This one really seems quite possible to me given the flood of AI technology in our lives today.
Third conspiracy theory: this has to do with the US elections, some sort of hacktivism.
Again, politics. Some people believe that this might be some desperate group of people who want to either shift the focus from US elections or sending a message. Honestly, I don’t think this is the way to do it. So I’m ruling this one out.
Fourth conspiracy: some publishers might be involved and hoping for monetary reward.
The Internet Archive has been sued multiple times by publishers. So, some people belive this might be their doing as a form of punishement to the Internet Archive.
Fifth theory conspiracy theory: make money from user PII.
My theory is, I think maybe it’s not about the Internet Archive itself but rather about selling the user’s information on the dark web.
5. What is being done to restore it?
According to Brewster, so far they have fended off the attackers and have “Disabled the JS library, scrubbing systems, upgrading security.”
He states:
Update: @internetarchive’s data has not been corrupted. Services are currently stopped to upgrade internal systems. We are working to restore services as quickly and safely as possible. Sorry for this disruption.
And I am sure that they are working tirelessly to recover and restore the system back to its normal state. I see that the other precaution is actually the fact that the website is offline and at least showing where to find more updates about the progress. This is a good sign because it means that the attackers have not yet taken total control of the website and that Brewster and his team are working on it in the background. They also claim that the data (books, websites, articles, etc.) have not been corrupted meaning that they still have their Integrity. It will be dangerous if someone were to change the content of this data. Just image the amount of false information!
Hopefully we will hear more about the recovery progress soon. You can check for more updates on:
X: https://twitter.com/internetarchive/
Mastodon: https://mastodon.archive.org/deck/@internetarchive6.
6. How can you, as an internet user, help?
Whether you are a cyber security expert or not, you can help by raising the awareness of the breach and alerting others. Also it will mean a lot to the team if you support them by commenting and sharing their updates. Hopefully when it does come back, some users with big storage spaces are planning on “backing up” the Internet Archive. This is exactly what it sounds like; they intend to save as much information as possible locally or on the cloud somewhere in case something like this happens again. I just want to mention here that counterattacks are illegal, even if you do somehow find the attacker. You are NOT allowed to hack them back.
The most you can do is report them to the authorities and they know how to deal with it.
In conclusion
The Internet Archive is the modern day Library of Alexandria that has a vast digital library of basically everything. It has been suffered DDoS attacks the past few days but now its servers are overwhelmed and the website is offline. This happened yesterday, Thursday 10 October 2024 in the afternoon. There are a few conspiracy theories and some of them sort of make sense. Let’s all be cautious but also support them in any way we can.
References
- Internet Archive. (2024, October 10). In Wikipedia. Retrieved October 11, 2024, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Archive.
- Wayback Machine. (2024, October 10). In Wikipedia. Retrieved October 11, 2024, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayback_Machine.
- Fireship. (2024, October 10). Hackers are destroying the Internet’s history book right now [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3ZGNT5S5IU.
- El-Abbadi, M. (2024, August 20). Library of Alexandria. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Library-of-Alexandria.
- Kahle, B. [@brewster_kahle]. (2024, October 10). Update: @internetarchive’s data has not been corrupted. Services are currently stopped to upgrade internal systems. [Tweet]. X. https://x.com/brewster_kahle/status/1844485102312751421.
- Chesser, P. (n.d.). The burning of the Library of Alexandria. In R. A. Guisepi (Ed.), OSU eHistory. Retrieved from https://ehistory.osu.edu/articles/burning-library-alexandria.
- Leiden University Libraries. (2024, October). The Internet Archive takes over foreign dissertations from UBL. Leiden University Libraries. https://www.library.universiteitleiden.nl/news/2024/10/he-internet-archive-takes-over-foreign-dissertations-from-ubl.
- Hershman, J. (2024, October 9). Internet Archive hacked, data breach impacts 31 million users. Bleeping Computer. Retrieved from https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/internet-archive-hacked-data-breach-impacts-31-million-users/.
DISCLAIMER: ONLY A FEW IMAGES ARE AI GENERATED. THE TEXT CONTENTS OF THIS ARTICLE IS WRITTEN BY A HUMAN.
There is an alarming story that requires every internet user’s attention. The modern day Alexandria Library, officially known as “The Internet Archive”, has been offline for about a day now due to DDoS attacks. I will briefly break this article down to the important key points that need to be discussed.
- What is the Internet Archive?
- Why is it important?
- What happened to it exactly? And what does it have to do with Cybersecurity?
- What are the conspiracy theories?
- What is being done to restore it?
- How can you, as an internet user, help?
1. What is the Internet Archive ?
Created in 1996 by Brewster Kahle, The Internet Archive is a vast, open and nonprofit library whose main objective is access to knowledge for all[1]. They believe in knowledge being free and accessible no matter your background. Their target audience ranges from casual internet users, to tech geeks and even educational institutions such as, universities, colleges and schools. It has an impressive 866 billion archived web pages and counting[3].
This library has a powerful feature called The Way Back Machine. This tool allows you to see various versions of websites, apps, audios, videos, and resources since 1996[2]. Basically you can compare how Amazon used to look like in 2001 vs 2009. It takes snapshots of websites and keeps their HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files on its servers for you to access anytime, anywhere [3]. So you would literally feel as though you are using the website back in 2001 or playing your favourite games from the early 2000s. I myself have played a few fun games on the Internet Archive for nostalgia such as Zuma, 3D pinball, etc. and remembering the good old days when Windows XP came with built-in games that were fun and not overly addictive (well, okay, just a little bit). I even read in a YouTube video comment that a person’s child who is autistic learns a lot from the internet archive in an engaging manner.
As you can see, this is basically the present day Library of Alexandria a.k.a “The Great Library” which was one of biggest sources of information in ancient times during and after Julius Caesar’s rule. Unfortunately, this ancient library was made in Alexandria City, Egypt, c. 300 BCE to c. 275[4], and had been destroyed intitially by Julius Caesar, then Theophilus, then probably Emperors Aurelian or Diocletian, and wars that were happening at the time[6]. The destruction of The Great Library is quite a complex and debatable story but in summary it was done by multiple factors and a number of notable people.
2. Why is the internet archive important ?
You can find books, apps, software, educational resources, and so much more from 1996 to this day.
As mentioned above, it is the archive of the internet as its brilliant name suggests. This is not just for fun games and websites, this is also where very important information about internet history is kept as well as millions of books, a lot of which are public domain books[1]. Recently, on the 08th of October 2024, Leiden University Libraries in the Netherlands has collaborated with the Internet Archive to take over a vast collection of foreign dissertations which will be shared with the public[7]. Basically, the Internet Archive will make a digital version of those records and upload it on its digital library. In brief, the Internet Archive is a vast source of history about the internet, and it also serves as a platform that digitises physical records and makes it accessible to everyone who needs the knowledge[1]. This is not an easy task and I really believe that they are underrated for this great service that they offer.
3. What happened to it exactly? And what does it have to do with Cybersecurity?
The DDoS attack happened on 10 October 2024 in the afternoon according to their official X page. In fact, these attacks have been happening for quite some time but right now, on 11 October 2024 07:22 AM SAST, the Internet Archive (www.archive.org) is sadly offline. And millions of user’s PII ( Personally Identifiable information) have been Pwned (exposed to the attackers). It is more than 31 million users to be exact[8]. So, email addresses, hashed passwords, usernames, and some internal data information of those users are in the hands of these terrorists[8][5].
The internet archive is allegedly experiencing heavy DDoS attacks that have overwhelmed its servers and therefore compromising the Confidentiality and Accessibility of its data. So far, not yet the Integrity though; which forms part of the CIA (Confidentially Integrity and Accessibility) Triad in Cybersecurity 101.
The website has been defaced by the attackers by using a JavaScript library as Brewster stated on his X page on 10 October 2024. Please check if your information has not been exposed due to this attack on : https://haveibeenpwned.com/ or if you have been exposed, you will receive an email either way.
There is a group that claims responsiblity for this attack but I really don’t believe them because they sound like clout chasers to me. I don’t even want to mention them here.Ethical and I’m sure even unethical hackers are sharing the same sentiment that attacking an open and not for profit library is the lowest kind of low that a person can go and I 1000% agree. These types of organisations such as the Internet Archive should be protected and untouched from attackers. These so-called hackers are trying something really dangerous which can erase the history of the internet. And you should be concerned…
4. What are the conspiracy theories?
With big news, comes big conspiracies. I’ve already seen a dozen conspiracies on comments and some of them sort of make sense. I will not go through all of them though, just the ones that seem somewhat plausible.
First conspiracy theory: government is involved.
Remember how we talked about Julius Caesar and the emperors? Well, some people believe that history might be repeating itself where the internet archive will probably go through the same fate as the the Great Library of Alexandria. Why? Well, to control the amount and type of information that people can get access to in order to manupilate them. In summation, it’s all about politics according to this theory.
Second conspiracy theory: AI companies want to train their machines.
I will not name the AI companies that people are suspecting (I don’t want to get in trouble for defamation and false accusations 🤣). But you might have an idea of the big ones that could benefit from something like this to train and feed their machine learning models. This one really seems quite possible to me given the flood of ai into our lives today.
Third conspiracy theory: this has to do with the US elections, some sort of hacktivism.
Again, politics. Some people believe that this might be some desperate group of people who want to either shift the focus from US elections and sending a message. Honestly, I don’t think this is the way to do it. So I’m ruling this one out.
Fourth conspiracy: some publishers might be involved and hoping for monetary reward.
The Internet Archive has been sued multiple times by publishers. So, some people belive this might be their doing as a form of punishement to the Internet Archive.
Fifth theory conspiracy theory: make money from user PII.
My theory is, I think maybe it’s not about the Internet Archive itself but rather about selling the user’s information on the dark web.
5. What is being done to restore it?
According to Brewster, so far they have fended off the attackers and have “Disabled the JS library, scrubbing systems, upgrading security.”
He states:
Update: @internetarchive’s data has not been corrupted. Services are currently stopped to upgrade internal systems. We are working to restore services as quickly and safely as possible. Sorry for this disruption.
And I am sure that they are working tirelessly to recover and restore the system back to its normal state. I see that the other precaution is actually the fact that the website is offline and at least showing where to find more updates about the progress. This is a good sign because it means that the attackers have not yet taken total control of the website and that Brewster and his team are working on it in the background. They also claim that the data (books, websites, articles, etc.) have not been corrupted meaning that they still have their Integrity. It will be dangerous if someone were to change the content of this data. Just image the amount of false information!
Hopefully we will hear more about the recovery progress soon. You can check for more updates on:
X: https://twitter.com/internetarchive/
Mastodon: https://mastodon.archive.org/deck/@internetarchive6.
6. How can you, as an internet user, help?
Whether you are a cyber security expert or not, you can help by raising the awareness of the breach and alerting others. Also it will mean a lot to the team if you support them by commenting and sharing their updates. Hopefully when it does come back, some users with big storage spaces are planning on “backing up” the Internet Archive. This is exactly what it sounds like; they intend to save as much information as possible locally or on the cloud somewhere in case something like this happens again. I just want to mention here that counterattacks are illegal, even if you do somehow find the attacker. You are NOT allowed to hack them back.
The most you can do is report them to the authorities and they know how to deal with it.
In conclusion
The Internet Archive is the modern day Library of Alexandria that has a vast digital library of basically everything. It has been suffered DDoS attacks the past few days but now its servers are overwhelmed and the website is offline. This happened yesterday, Thursday 10 October 2024 in the afternoon. There are a few conspiracy theories and some of them sort of make sense. Let’s all be cautious but also support them in any way we can.
References
- Internet Archive. (2024, October 10). In Wikipedia. Retrieved October 11, 2024, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Archive.
- Wayback Machine. (2024, October 10). In Wikipedia. Retrieved October 11, 2024, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayback_Machine.
- Fireship. (2024, October 10). Hackers are destroying the Internet’s history book right now [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3ZGNT5S5IU.
- El-Abbadi, M. (2024, August 20). Library of Alexandria. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Library-of-Alexandria.
- Kahle, B. [@brewster_kahle]. (2024, October 10). Update: @internetarchive’s data has not been corrupted. Services are currently stopped to upgrade internal systems. [Tweet]. X. https://x.com/brewster_kahle/status/1844485102312751421.
- Chesser, P. (n.d.). The burning of the Library of Alexandria. In R. A. Guisepi (Ed.), OSU eHistory. Retrieved from https://ehistory.osu.edu/articles/burning-library-alexandria.
- Leiden University Libraries. (2024, October). The Internet Archive takes over foreign dissertations from UBL. Leiden University Libraries. https://www.library.universiteitleiden.nl/news/2024/10/he-internet-archive-takes-over-foreign-dissertations-from-ubl.
- Hershman, J. (2024, October 9). Internet Archive hacked, data breach impacts 31 million users. Bleeping Computer. Retrieved from https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/internet-archive-hacked-data-breach-impacts-31-million-users/.
DISCLAIMER: ONLY A FEW IMAGES ARE AI GENERATED. THE TEXT CONTENTS OF THIS ARTICLE IS WRITTEN BY A HUMAN.