The digital landscape was shaken last week when the Internet Archive, including its renowned Wayback Machine, was temporarily taken offline due to a substantial cyberattack. As the aftermath unfolds, the website has now re-emerged, albeit in a read-only format, post-attack.

Cyberattack and Data Breach Details

On October 9th, a devastating one-two punch of a data breach and a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack struck the Internet Archive. This breach implicated a user authentication database, resulting in the theft of 31 million unique records. The alarm was raised via a pop-up message from a self-identified hacker, and subsequent confirmation by Have I Been Pwned. The stolen data encompassed email addresses, screen names, hashed passwords, and additional internal details linked to these accounts.

Current Status and Resumption Process

Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive, announced that the services are back in a "provisional, read-only manner." This implies that while users can access the vast collection of 916 billion archived web pages on the Wayback Machine, they temporarily cannot archive new content. The restoration efforts have also included reviving email accounts and service crawlers, crucial for National Libraries, as the team works diligently to reinforce the Archive's security.

Importance of the Internet Archive

Throughout its downtime, the absence of the Internet Archive was profoundly felt, especially as Google has recently begun incorporating Wayback Machine links into its search results. With Google's previous removal of cached page links, the Wayback Machine stands as a critical resource for accessing older web content and archived website pages.

As the Internet Archive operates in a read-only mode, continued vigilance in bolstering security protocols remains a priority to prevent future threats. Users can anticipate that the platform may face further temporary suspensions as necessary enhancements and maintenance checks are performed.

This was originally reported by The Verge.