Internet Archive Returns After Major Hack, But Key Feature Missing
The Internet Archive is back online after a significant cyberattack that occurred on October 9, which exposed data from 31 million accounts and disabled its Wayback Machine feature. Currently, the site is accessible in a 'read-only' mode, meaning users can view archived pages but cannot capture new ones.
Founder Brewster Kahle announced that while the service is operational, it may require further maintenance, potentially leading to additional outages. The restoration process has included recovering email accounts and enhancing security measures to prevent future breaches.
Despite the limitations, users can still access approximately 916 billion archived web pages. The recent downtime followed Google's decision to remove its cached links to archived sites, highlighting the importance of the Internet Archive's services in preserving web history.