Pro-Palestinian hacktivist group claims responsibility for major cyber attack on internet archive
New Delhi: A pro-Palestinian hacktivist group, "SN_BlackMeta," has claimed responsibility for a significant cyberattack on the Internet Archive, resulting in the exposure of personal data for 31 million users. The breach compromised email addresses, usernames, and encrypted passwords, raising serious concerns about the security and data privacy of the digital library, widely known for its Wayback Machine.
The attack, discovered on October 9, exploited a vulnerability in a JavaScript (JS) library on the Internet Archive's website. A pop-up message appeared, notifying users of the breach, stating, "Have you ever felt like the Internet Archive runs on sticks and is constantly on the verge of suffering a catastrophic security breach? It just happened. See 31 million of you on HIBP!" The message referred to the service "Have I Been Pwned?" (HIBP), which helps users check if their data has been compromised.
Cybersecurity experts confirmed that the 6.4 GB database, shared by the attackers, contained email addresses, usernames, and passwords for millions of users. Troy Hunt, founder of HIBP, stated that over half of the compromised email addresses had already appeared in previous data breaches.
Brewster Kahle, the founder of the Internet Archive, acknowledged the breach and ongoing Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks that disrupted the platform. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Kahle explained the steps taken, including disabling the compromised JS library and upgrading security protocols. He noted, "DDOS attack fended off for now; defacement of our website via JS library; breach of usernames/email/salted-encrypted passwords. We are scrubbing systems and enhancing security."
Despite efforts to restore service, the Internet Archive's website, including its popular Wayback Machine, has experienced intermittent outages. The organisation continues to address the fallout from the attack while reinforcing its systems.
The hacker group "SN_BlackMeta," linked to previous cyberattacks on Middle Eastern financial institutions, took credit for both the data breach and the DDoS attacks. In an X post, the group claimed their attack was motivated by pro-Palestinian sentiments, alleging that the Internet Archive, though not a U.S. government entity, is tied to American support for Israel. However, a community note on the post clarified that the Internet Archive is a nonprofit organisation that hosts extensive resources on Palestine.
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Gujarat Titans beat SRH by 38 runs
Ahmedabad, May 2 (PTI): Gujarat Titans inched closer to sealing a playoff spot with a 38-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in their IPL match here on Friday.
Invited to bat, skipper Shubman Gill scored a 38-ball 76 before Jos Buttler slammed 64 off 37 deliveries for the Titans.
In reply, Abhishek Sharma (74) gave SRH a solid start but GT bowlers stopped the visitors at 186 for 6.
Brief Scores:
Gujarat Titans 224 for 6 in 20 overs (Shubman Gill 76, Jos Buttler 64; Jaydev Unadkat 3/35).
Sunrisers Hyderbad 186 for 6 in 20 overs (Abhishek Sharma 74; Mohammed Siraj 2/33, Prasidh Krishna 2/19).
