New Delhi: The Internet Archive has reported a significant data breach, exposing the personal information of 31 million users. The incident, which occurred on October 9, compromised email addresses, screen names, and encrypted passwords, prompting cybersecurity experts to recommend that users change their passwords immediately.
This breach has raised serious concerns about data privacy and the security of the Internet Archive, a popular digital library known for its Wayback Machine feature. According to reports, the attack was initiated by exploiting a JavaScript library on the Internet Archive’s website.
Visitors to the site were greeted by a pop-up message that read: “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!” This message referred to the service Have I Been Pwned? (HIBP), which allows users to check if their data has been compromised in any breaches.
The compromised database has been shared with cybersecurity experts and contains sensitive information for 31 million unique email addresses. Troy Hunt, the founder of Have I Been Pwned?, confirmed that he received a 6.4 GB database file from the attackers. He also mentioned that over half of the exposed email addresses had previously appeared in other data breaches.
As the Internet Archive navigates this crisis, users are urged to remain vigilant and update their passwords to safeguard their personal information.
