Nonprofit behind the Wayback Machine has suffered a cyberattack by "pro-Palestinian hacktivists" affecting 31 million users.
A group linked to a pro-Palestinian hacktivist movement has launched a catastrophic cyberattack revealing the details of 31 million people, compromising their email addresses and screen names.
An account on X under the name SN_BlackMeta claimed responsibility for the attack on The Internet Archive, a nonprofit organization, and implied that further attacks were planned. The Internet Archive is known for its digital library and the Wayback Machine. SN_BlackMeta has previously been linked to an attack against a Middle Eastern financial institution earlier this year, and a security firm has linked it to a pro-Palestinian hacktivist movement.
Encrypted passwords were also exposed and although these are relatively safe, users have been advised to change their passwords. And one expert has told Newsweek people should avoid browsing or using any files obtained from the site until it has declared an "all clear."
Yeahhhh this one seems fishy. Unlike the “Handala Hacks” group (seemingly 100% an Iranian state affair) who basically doxxed Israeli citizens and security industry heads, where’s the play in this?
No ransomware attempt, just DDoS and data grab
Email and handles compromised, not major info like bank details or SSNs
VERY publicly pro-Palestine/Palestinian, makes zero mention of occupation, apartheid, civilian suffering, etc
Tortured ‘link’ between a non-profit .org and the US:Israel alliance as justification
Yeah, seems to be about driving wedges in the progressive movements. IA is often used to access information and store proof of it. Especially when governments, newspapers etc. sneaky edit out statements that are incriminating, be it morally or quite often legally.
It is a tool heavily used by pro Palestinian and other progressive activists, with no reason to jeopardize it.
Tech-savy teenagers can pull of a "cyber attack" on a nonprofit. It doesn't have to be a smart choice. Sometimes people just want to relieve their anger, break some shit, and claim it for whatever floats their boat right now.
The evidence is absolute bullshit though. So I don't believe it either.
Thanks to a bit of anonymous text on the disinformation machine of a fascist US billionaire, we finally know what's up. Thank God for this achievement in journalism.
Why the hell is anyone still storing actual passwords, even encrypted ones, in 2024? They should only be storing hashes and a salt that's only retrievable on the backend.
Edit: I stand corrected. Newsweek is just doing its usual shit job of reporting. They should know better than calling hashed passwords "encrypted" passwords.
They aren't, newsweek is calling it encryption because they're writing for normies. The leaked data includes bcrypt'ed passwords, so hash and per-password salt. Their choice of hashing function is not what you want to criticise the IA for.
Anyway, I'd be curious to see that data. It also got my email that I only used for donations to IA. I wonder what data is associated with that email.
Not sure where to start searching for that data.