The Internet Archive, a nonprofit digital library, has recently faced a series of attacks compromising user data and disrupting its services. On Wednesday, visitors to the archive’s website were greeted with a JavaScript alert claiming that the site had been hacked and that 31 million user records were exposed. Troy Hunt, the creator of the data breach notification service “Have I Been Pwned” (HIBP), confirmed that he received a 6.4GB SQL file containing the Internet Archive’s user authentication database.
The file included email addresses, usernames, password change timestamps, and bcrypt-hashed passwords for the affected accounts. To verify the authenticity of the data, Hunt contacted several users listed in the database, who confirmed that their information matched the records in their password managers. The most recent timestamp in the database was September 28th, 2024, indicating when the data was likely stolen.
Internet Archive breach affects millions
In addition to the data breach, the Internet Archive has been targeted by a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack, claimed by the BlackMeta hacktivist group. The attack has taken the archive’s main website (archive.org) and its Open Library project (openlibrary.org) offline.
Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle confirmed the incidents via Twitter, stating that the organization has disabled the compromised JavaScript library, started scrubbing systems, and is working on upgrading security. However, it remains unclear how the breach occurred and if more data was compromised. While the Internet Archive deals with both the data breach and ongoing DDoS attacks, it is not believed that the two events are directly linked.
The organization is working to secure its systems and investigate the breach, with updates being provided through its social media channels. Users are advised to check HIBP to determine if their information was exposed in the breach and to follow the Internet Archive’s updates for further information on the situation.
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