4chan Returns After Hack: Claims Financial Struggles

Infamous image-sharing site 4chan is partially back online after a nearly two-week outage caused by a security breach.

The site experienced downtime starting April 14th, following a hack that reportedly exposed sensitive data, including moderator and “janitor” lists. One “janitor” confirmed the authenticity of the leaked information to TechCrunch.

The prolonged absence of 4chan sparked premature reports of its demise. One journalist described its evolution from an internet culture hub to a breeding ground for extremism and far-right ideologies.

However, the 4chan team countered these claims, questioning the reports of their downfall on X. The site officially returned on Friday.

In a blog post, 4chan detailed the attack, attributing it to a hacker using a UK-based IP address. The hacker allegedly exploited a vulnerability through a “bogus PDF upload” to access a server, extract database tables and source code, and vandalize the site. Moderators intervened to halt the attack, but the damage was described as “catastrophic.”

The post emphasized that the vulnerability stemmed from a lack of resources, stating, “Ultimately this problem was caused by having insufficient skilled man-hours available to update our code and infrastructure, and being starved of money for years by advertisers, payment providers, and service providers who had succumbed to external pressure campaigns.” They further explained the difficulty in securing advertisers and payment processors due to activist pressure.

While the compromised server has been replaced, certain features remain limited. PDF uploads are “temporarily” disabled, and the Flash animation board is offline due to security concerns related to .swf files.

As of Sunday afternoon, the site’s status checker indicated that boards and the front page were functional, but posting, images, and thumbnails were not fully operational.

Despite the challenges, 4chan affirmed its resilience, stating, “4chan is back. No other website can replace it, or this community. No matter how hard it is, we are not giving up.”

Keywords: 4chan, hack, security breach, online forum, image sharing, cyberattack, data leak, online community, internet culture, financial struggles