Internet Archive Suffers Major Data Breach

The Internet Archive's 'Wayback Machine' has suffered a catastrophic data breach, affecting over 31 million users by compromising its authentication database. Hackers, allegedly from the group BlackMeta, executed a DDoS attack simultaneously with the data theft, leaving the site largely inaccessible. The stolen database, which is approximately 6.4GB, contains sensitive information including email addresses, usernames, and hashed passwords. Troy Hunt, creator of the Have I Been Pwned service, confirmed that the attackers had shared this database with him nine days prior to the public disclosure. Users were alerted through a JavaScript pop-up on the site, which directed them to HIBP for breach notifications. The Internet Archive is currently focusing on securing its data in the wake of these attacks.