Internet Archive data breach
From Breaches, in the HARD wiki · Updated
This article is about the September 2024 breach of Internet Archive. For every breach, see Breaches.
The Internet Archive data breach exposed 31,081,179 accounts from archive.org in September 2024. The data taken includes passwords, usernames and email addresses.[1]
Have I Been Pwned verified it and added it to its search on 9 Oct 2024, within a month. It is the 60th largest of the 618 breaches in HARD’s list.
What was exposed
Internet Archive’s breach included 3 kinds of data. What each lets criminals do:
| Data | What it’s used for |
|---|---|
| Passwords | Criminals try leaked passwords on email, banking and shopping sites, because people reuse them. |
| Usernames | Half of a login. With a reused password, it opens other accounts. |
| Email addresses | Expect scam emails that name the company to look genuine. |
What to do
- Check whether you’re in it.Search your email address on Have I Been Pwned. It tells you which breaches it appears in, Internet Archive among them, without showing the data.
- Change your Internet Archive password.If the account still exists, sign in at Internet Archive (archive.org) and change it.
- Change it anywhere you used the same one.Start with your email, then banking and shopping. Leaked passwords are tried on other sites automatically, within days.
- Use a password manager and two-step sign-in.A different password for every site means one breach can’t open the rest. Two-step sign-in stops a leaked password working on its own.
- Distrust messages that mention Internet Archive.Scammers use breach data to sound genuine. Don’t click links in emails or texts about the breach; go to the site yourself.
Timeline
- : the breach, as best it can be dated.
- : Have I Been Pwned verifies the data and adds it to its search, within a month.
Similar breaches
Breaches that leaked the same kinds of data, closest in time:
- The Post Millennial, May 2024, 57 million accounts
- Zacks (2024), June 2024, 12 million accounts
- Spoutible, January 2024, 207,114 accounts
- AnimeLeague, July 2024, 192,134 accounts
- BitView, December 2024, 63,127 accounts
- BreachForums (2025), August 2025, 672,247 accounts
See Breaches for all 618, and Updates for keeping your devices patched.
References
- ^ Troy Hunt. “Internet Archive”, Have I Been Pwned, added 9 Oct 2024. Breach data licensed CC BY 4.0.
External links
- Have I Been Pwned, to check your email address
- archive.org, Internet Archive’s website