Internet Archive recovers its main services after the cyber attack

Oct. 22 (Portaltic/EP) –

Internet Archive has announced the recovery of its core services after the cyberattack suffered in early October, while they continue to investigate the security incident and strengthen their systems.

After managing to get Wayback Machine and Archive-It up and running again, this Monday the non-profit organization recovered archive.org, although in reading mode, as reported by the director of Library Services at Internet Archive, Chris Freeland, in a statement.

This “provisional availability” means that features such as uploading, borrowing, article review, and interlibrary loan are pending recovery. “We are resuming services as defenses are strengthened,” the manager said.

Freeland has shared that the Internet Archive team is working to analyze and contain the security incident that began on October 8, and that their efforts are focused on firewall systems and reinforcing the security of data warehouses.

The nonprofit digital library suffered a series of denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks earlier this month that, in addition to taking down the page, ended up resulting in the leak of a database containing 31 million unique records or accounts of user.

As Freeland explained, “the hackers disclosed archive.org email and encrypted passwords to a transparency website.” They have also sent emails to users who contacted the library “exploiting a third-party support system.”