Home Tech SecurityInternet Archive breach compromises 31 million accounts - what you need to knowA DDoS attacker that knocked the popular archive site offline has stolen millions of usernames, email addresses, and encrypted passwords.lance-31.pngWritten by Lance Whitney, ContributorOct. 10, 2024 at 7:17 a.m. PTranktrend1ChatGPT’s Canvas feature supercharges productivity282% of organizations will implement agentic AI in next three years, survey finds3Cybersecurity professionals use AI to improve attack detection4Google launches global anti-scam initiativeview trend reportgettyimages-866501668alexsl/Getty ImagesThe Internet Archive has been hit by a cyberattack that has taken the site down and impacted 31 million accounts. Late Wednesday, Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle revealed that a DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack affected the site, leading to its defacement via a JavaScript library and a breach of usernames, email addresses, and salted passwords.Also: If you're a Marriott customer, FTC says the breach-plagued hotel chain owes youUsers who browsed the site were greeted with the following message:"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!" HIBP refers to the website Have I Been Pwned, which checks your email address to see if you've been caught in a data breach.In response to the attack, the Internet Archive disabled its JavaScript library, scrubbed its systems, and upgraded its security. But the defensive measures apparently weren't strong enough. Another message from Kahle, early Thursday, announced that the DDoS folks were back and knocked the main Internet Archive site and the related Open Library and Wayback Machine sites offline. At this point, all three are inaccessible.Also: Why you don't need to pay for antivirus software anymoreA post from Have I Been Pwned confirmed that 31 million accounts were compromised in the attack last month. With screen names, email addresses, and hashed passwords caught in the breach, 54% were already listed in Have I Been Pwned's database, according to the post.Among hackers and cybercriminals, the Internet Archive seems an unlikely target. The non-profit site provides free access to a wide variety of digital artifacts of the past. Looking for software, music, movies, TV shows, books, and other items throughout history, and chances are good you'll find it in the archive. I've discovered a variety of old TV shows and films that I couldn't track down elsewhere.Also: You should protect your Windows PC data with strong encryption - here's howThe Open Library is also a valuable resource, offering a huge catalog of books you can read and borrow. And the Wayback Machine takes you back in time to previous versions of web pages.So why would someone attack these sites? In a Mastodon post on Wednesday, Internet Archive free-range archivist Jason Scott said that according to a post on X, the attackers are doing it just to do it. "Just because they can. No statement, no idea, no demands."