4chan hacked, moderator data leaked, site faces ongoing outages

Internet message board 4chan has been hacked, according to Reuters who detailed the breach that occurred earlier this week. The hack became apparent when a banned section of the site suddenly reappeared with the message "U GOT HACKED" prominently displayed at the top. As reported by TechCrunch, cybersecurity experts have weighed in on the situation, with Alon Gal from Israeli cybercrime monitoring company Hudson Rock stating that based on circulating screenshots showing 4chan's backend infrastructure, the hack claim "looks legit." The notorious website, known for hosting controversial content, was only working intermittently on Tuesday as confirmed by Reuters who attempted to contact site administrators.

In a parallel development, the international activist hacking group Anonymous has conducted a massive cyberattack against Russia, as reported by Lad Bible. The group released 10 terabytes of leaked data online on Tuesday, April 15, including sensitive information about Russia's political landscape and local businesses.

According to Lad Bible's report, the unprecedented data dump revealed details about Russian businesses, their financial activities, and Kremlin assets in Western countries. The hack comes amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and follows Anonymous' recent warnings about President Donald Trump's relationship with Vladimir Putin. The activist group has been vocal on social media about the war, consistently criticizing the Trump Administration's approach to the conflict as noted by Lad Bible's monitoring of their online activities.

The apparent 4chan hack could expose longtime anonymous administrators and moderators of the platform, according to Wired, who provided a technical analysis of the breach's potential impact. Following the initial defacement, screenshots allegedly showing 4chan's backend systems were posted on a rival forum called ‘Sojka. Party,’ including a list of administrator and moderator usernames with associated email addresses. Security experts consulted by Wired suggest the breach may have resulted from 4chan running outdated, unpatched software that left the platform vulnerable to attack.

"It seems true that 4chan hasn't been properly maintained and patched for years," said Emiliano De Cristoforo, a computer science professor at UC Riverside who was interviewed by Wired about the situation. The implications could be significant as 4chan collects user information like IP addresses despite its public anonymity feature. Ian Gray, director of analysis at security firm Flashpoint, told Wired that if the leaked data proves genuine, it "would remove some of the anonymity from 4chan administrators, moderators, and janitors" and could potentially provide useful information for law enforcement investigations given the site's history of hosting extremist content.