- 310
- IGN
- videogamesm12
4chan, the imageboard that was once a firm pillar of the old wild west age of the internet where some of the wildest memes, protests, and raids have originated, has been hacked by users of a spin-off known as soyjak.party (which originated from a now-deleted board on 4chan known as /qa/). They managed to gain access to specific boards, internal panels intended for staff members, the names and email addresses of all staff members, and even the complete source code of the imageboard software itself.
Some of the screenshots that have been spread throughout social media platforms like Twitter
The attacker began posting screenshots of internal panels and the elusive /j/ board (intended for staff communication) Monday night at around 10 PM EST on the aforementioned spin-off board, bragging about having the keys to the kingdom. Within minutes they they promptly recreated the /qa/ board, vandalized a couple of other boards with text like "/QA/ FUCKING WON", and leaked a small piece of the site's source code. Judging from the replies by users witnessing the shenanigans, the response was one of excitement and enthusiasm. Then, the bombshell dropped: a list of staff usernames, email addresses, and ranks. Some had .edu email addresses, but a narrative soon sprouted that certain staff members had .gov email addresses, which is not true. After a lot of speculation and some apparent downtime, the attacker dropped a 7z file containing the source code of the imageboard software that powers the site along with some allegedly pretty chilling details about how out of date and vulnerable the site really was.
4chan was apparently running a version of FreeBSD that was originally released in 2014, had reached its end of life date in 2016, and appears to have been last dicked around with at the base level in 2019. That's right, FreeBSD 10.1. Supposedly, that wasn't even the worst part of it. It's been alleged that some of the code in the software is vulnerable to an attack of sorts related to PHP and a lack of upload validation. I could not verify this part myself as I'm going off the memory of reading a post I saw several hours ago that was alleged to come from the attacker, but it wouldn't be surprising if it turns out to be true.
Most media outlets reporting on this are painting this as some act of vigilantism or try to imply that there are some forms of politics to be taken note of, but this is more of a "son clubbing the absolute fuck out of his father for pissing him off" scenario as the entire point of the hack wasn't for political gain. It was, like many hacks of the early internet, intended to get some good laughs out of causing a shitload of chaos and brag about bringing what was once a titan to its knees.
The future of 4chan itself is uncertain. For years the site's reputation has pretty severely disintegrated as it went from basically the "anything goes" website that could singlehandedly bring companies and other organizations to their knees if executed correctly to the face of complete political retardation to just a dumping ground for video game source code leaks. Most of the more unhinged and crazy individuals that were around on the site which gave it the reputation it earned moved on to greener pastures or stuck around only to seek refuge in other communities. Some are speculating that this could permanently kill the site while others are more optimistic about the site's future but still temper their expectations by noting that it'll take weeks for things to return to any form of normalcy.
Some of the screenshots that have been spread throughout social media platforms like Twitter
The attacker began posting screenshots of internal panels and the elusive /j/ board (intended for staff communication) Monday night at around 10 PM EST on the aforementioned spin-off board, bragging about having the keys to the kingdom. Within minutes they they promptly recreated the /qa/ board, vandalized a couple of other boards with text like "/QA/ FUCKING WON", and leaked a small piece of the site's source code. Judging from the replies by users witnessing the shenanigans, the response was one of excitement and enthusiasm. Then, the bombshell dropped: a list of staff usernames, email addresses, and ranks. Some had .edu email addresses, but a narrative soon sprouted that certain staff members had .gov email addresses, which is not true. After a lot of speculation and some apparent downtime, the attacker dropped a 7z file containing the source code of the imageboard software that powers the site along with some allegedly pretty chilling details about how out of date and vulnerable the site really was.
4chan was apparently running a version of FreeBSD that was originally released in 2014, had reached its end of life date in 2016, and appears to have been last dicked around with at the base level in 2019. That's right, FreeBSD 10.1. Supposedly, that wasn't even the worst part of it. It's been alleged that some of the code in the software is vulnerable to an attack of sorts related to PHP and a lack of upload validation. I could not verify this part myself as I'm going off the memory of reading a post I saw several hours ago that was alleged to come from the attacker, but it wouldn't be surprising if it turns out to be true.
Most media outlets reporting on this are painting this as some act of vigilantism or try to imply that there are some forms of politics to be taken note of, but this is more of a "son clubbing the absolute fuck out of his father for pissing him off" scenario as the entire point of the hack wasn't for political gain. It was, like many hacks of the early internet, intended to get some good laughs out of causing a shitload of chaos and brag about bringing what was once a titan to its knees.
The future of 4chan itself is uncertain. For years the site's reputation has pretty severely disintegrated as it went from basically the "anything goes" website that could singlehandedly bring companies and other organizations to their knees if executed correctly to the face of complete political retardation to just a dumping ground for video game source code leaks. Most of the more unhinged and crazy individuals that were around on the site which gave it the reputation it earned moved on to greener pastures or stuck around only to seek refuge in other communities. Some are speculating that this could permanently kill the site while others are more optimistic about the site's future but still temper their expectations by noting that it'll take weeks for things to return to any form of normalcy.
An ironic victory for /QA/!
