- Notorious online forum 4chan is currently offline
- A hacker reportedly took the site offline and leaked sensitive data
- “Rival” imageboard users are celebrating
Infamous anonymous imageboard 4chan has reportedly been hacked and taken offline, with the website unable to load.
A hacker was apparently dwelling on 4chan’s systems “for over a year” before deciding to pull the trigger.
The threat actor leaked a few screenshots to prove the website was hacked, and on those screenshots it showed the site’s alleged backend, source code, and banning templates. Furthermore, the hacker leaked a list of 4chan moderators and janitors, essentially the website’s operators.
Praising the downfall
4chan is one of the world’s most popular anonymous imageboards. It is a forum where users cannot register an account, and in which threads disappear after a while (unless archived, which only happens in certain situations). It gained notoriety in the past when its users rallied to conduct “raids” – often promoting fascism, racism, and other destructive ideologies – “for the lulz” (for fun).
Memes like Pepe the Frog, Pedo Bear, the Anonymous Guy Fawkes mask, and many other trends, originated on 4chan. The “raids” included flooding live streams, massive multiplayer games and chat platforms, other forums, and similar. The forum and its users also had their “rivals”, mostly ebaumsworld (to which they always tried to shift the blame during the raids), and 8chan.
On social media, users of these boards are now gloating and praising 4chan’s “downfall”.
TechCrunch spoke to one of the janitors, who said the imageboard suffered hacks and DDoS attacks in the past, but stressed that this one might be particularly dangerous since it would seem the hacker has full control over the site.
“I’ve been most concerned with the leaked information, for obvious reasons,” said the janitor. “I’d wager that the fact that 4chan was effectively taken over by a hacker(s) is probably ‘worse’ than screenshots, at least from the perspective of the site’s continued operation.”
They also told the publication that the stolen data was probably authentic.
Whenever 4chan would go offline in the past, or whenever someone would threaten legal action against it, users would respond with a now-famous quote, which I’ll use here as well: “Nothing of value was lost.”
Via TechCrunch
