In October, the Internet Archive, a non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle, suffered a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack that took archive.org offline. At the same time, 31 million users’ credentials were hacked.
What is the Internet Archive?
Archive.org is a digital library that provides access to digital assets such as movies, audio, books, educational materials, and software. It also hosts the “Wayback Machine,” which has 866 billion web pages saved and a handy search tool that lets you search for a URL or words related to a site’s home page.
Kahle’s much-loved site is his vision to build “the Library of Alexandria for the digital age” and provide “Universal Access to All Knowledge.” In 2012 he was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame (founded in 2012 by the Internet Society), which recognizes those who have “played an extraordinary role in the conceptualization, building, and development of the Internet on a global scale.”
The Unfolding of the DDoS Attacks on the Internet Archive
Netscout, which provides network visibility services, tracked multiple DDoS attacks on archive.org over several hours on October 9, 2024. A DDoS attack overwhelms the target’s technical infrastructure by flooding it with internet traffic from multiple compromised computer systems and other networked resources. Attacks are increasing in sophistication and frequency, with a reported 20% year-on-year increase by Q2 of 2024.
Hacktivist group SN-BLACKMETA has taken responsibility for the attack. This is not the first time the group has targeted the Internet Archive. It also claimed responsibility for a six-day DDoS attack in May of this year.
The Internet Archive — Fully Restored?
The technology industry treasure has slowly gotten back on its feet, albeit in read-only mode, to begin with, and the ‘Save page now’ function has only recently been restored. This incident is a stark reminder that while the motivation for many cyber-attacks is for monetary gain, it can also be to limit access to information, highlight a particular cause, or cause harm and seek revenge on an entity. As the number of cyber-attacks continues to grow, so does the complexity of not just the attack but also the motivation of the attackers.
