←back to thread

Internet Archive breached again through stolen access tokens

(www.bleepingcomputer.com)
492 points vladyslavfox | 6 comments | 20 Oct 24 15:00 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source | bottom
Show context
gweinberg ◴[20 Oct 24 17:46 UTC] No.41897120[source]▶
Does anyone know who is targeting the Internet Archive, and why? I get the impression the attacks are too sophisticated for it to just be vandal punks.
replies(8): >>41897968 #>>41897987 #>>41898192 #>>41898348 #>>41898652 #>>41899117 #>>41900043 #>>41903892 #
dokyun ◴[20 Oct 24 21:32 UTC] No.41898652[source]▶
The group that claimed to be responsible for the first hack was said to be Russian-based, anti-U.S., pro-Palestine, and their reasoning for the attack was because of IA's violation of copyright....

I think you should draw your own more informed conclusions, but it smells a lot like feds to me.

replies(2): >>41899662 #>>41903885 #
1. MathMonkeyMan ◴[21 Oct 24 00:28 UTC] No.41899662[source]▶
What do Palestine, Russia, and the U.S. have to do with the Internet Archive? The Internet Archive is a supremely boring target politically.
replies(5): >>41899792 #>>41900070 #>>41902162 #>>41902411 #>>41903240 #
2. small_scombrus ◴[21 Oct 24 00:57 UTC] No.41899792[source]▶
That's the point they're making. It's such a seeming non-sequitur that people are suspicious and coming up with fun theories.
3. shiroiushi ◴[21 Oct 24 01:56 UTC] No.41900070[source]▶
He's pointing out that it doesn't make any sense: why would someone pro-Russian and anti-US care about violating western IP? In reality, it's the opposite: Russia is happy to help with that because they think it helps weaken the west.
4. whywhywhywhy ◴[21 Oct 24 09:15 UTC] No.41902162[source]▶
> The Internet Archive is a supremely boring target politically.

I mean it's where we go to prove a politician said something after they deleted it or where a government changes the wording of something...

I'd argue it's one of the juicer political targets if you're actually wanting to do something.

5. 71bw ◴[21 Oct 24 09:51 UTC] No.41902411[source]▶
>supremely boring target politically.

Oh how wrong you are.

There is nothing boring in a target that can be used to validate others' lies and potential hypocrisy, changes in their policies etc.

The wayback machine itself serves as a truly priceless way to go back through someone's public life.

6. elihu ◴[21 Oct 24 12:05 UTC] No.41903240[source]▶
It seems plausible to me that someone is just trying to exacerbate political/social conflict. Russia has been known to do such things, and they often take multiple sides just to sow chaos. Self-identifying as Palestinian activists would be an effective way to get more people mad that otherwise wouldn't care.

This is also right before a major U.S. election, and that might not be a coincidence. Someone might be trying to get Trump elected by drawing attention to the Israel-Gaza conflict, a topic that isn't exactly a winning issue for Harris.

That's just one possibility of many though. I mean, might just be regular assholes that happen to also be pro-Palestinian. Or pro-Hamas, which isn't necessarily the same thing.