Archive.today's CAPTCHA Page Found Executing DDoS Attacks; Wikipedia Considers Ban
Archive.today, a popular web archiving service, is under scrutiny after its CAPTCHA page was found to be executing DDoS attacks. The attacks reportedly targeted a blog that had attempted to uncover the identity of Archive.today's founder back in 2023, raising serious concerns about the service weaponizing visitor traffic.
The discovery has prompted Wikipedia to consider banning links to Archive.today, which would be a significant blow to the service given how frequently Wikipedia editors use it to preserve referenced sources. The situation highlights the risks of widely-used web services operating with opaque ownership and governance, and the potential for abuse when millions of users unknowingly participate in attacks through their browsers.
The discovery has prompted Wikipedia to consider banning links to Archive.today, which would be a significant blow to the service given how frequently Wikipedia editors use it to preserve referenced sources. The situation highlights the risks of widely-used web services operating with opaque ownership and governance, and the potential for abuse when millions of users unknowingly participate in attacks through their browsers.