Last week, the Internet Archive and its widely used Wayback Machine suffered a significant setback when a hacktivist group launched a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack against the site. This cyberattack not only disrupted access but also resulted in the loss of data for over 31 million user accounts, raising serious concerns about security and data protection.
In response to the attack, the Internet Archive team has been working tirelessly to restore services and recover lost data. However, users should be prepared for a longer wait before everything is fully operational again. Currently, there is a glimmer of hope: the Wayback Machine has been brought back online in a read-only capacity. This means users can still browse through the vast archives of web pages stored by the service, allowing them to view past versions of websites as they were at various points in time. However, no new pages will be archived until full service is restored.
Given the scale of the data breach, if you have an account with the Internet Archive, it is highly advisable to change your password as soon as the site is back to normal operations. The incident underscores the importance of online security and user vigilance in protecting personal information.