The Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine is back online in a read-only state, after DDoS attacks took the entire platform offline on October 9. Founder Brewster Kahle posted on Monday (via The Verge) that the service is “resumed in a provisional, read-only manner” without the ability to save new pages.
Security researcher Troy Hunt said last week’s attacks coincided with the Internet Archive’s plan to disclose a previous breach that led to the theft of over 31 million records. Hunt, who runs the Have I Been Pwned? service, believed the timing of the two attacks was likely “entirely coincidental,” citing the involvement of “multiple parties.”
The hacking group Blackmeta claimed responsibility for the attacks, posting that the Internet Archive “belongs to the USA.” The nonprofit, founded in the early days of the web in 1996, is headquartered in San Francisco.
Kahle says it’s “safe to resume” using the Wayback Machine, so you can resume your nostalgic trip to your favorite Geocities post-grunge tribute sites. However, the founder warns that the service may need further maintenance, so don’t be shocked if it goes down again.
