A devastating cyberattack has brought down one of the internet's most notorious forums, 4chan, with mounting evidence suggesting the site may never return. The attack, which occurred on April 14, exposed critical vulnerabilities and sensitive data, marking what could be the end of a controversial era in internet culture.
Members of rival forum Soyjak claimed responsibility for the breach, stating they had infiltrated 4chan's systems for over a year before launching their attack. The hack revealed severely outdated source code and security vulnerabilities, including deprecated PHP functions and MySQL database issues.
The breach compromised administrator email addresses and exposed that site moderators could track IP addresses of users who believed they were posting anonymously. Personal information of paid subscribers was also stolen in the attack.
Speaking to TechCrunch under condition of anonymity, a former 4chan moderator indicated the damage likely runs deeper than what has been publicly disclosed. With the site displaying only a 503 error message for over a week and no signs of recovery, restoration appears increasingly unlikely.
Founded in 2003 by Christopher "moot" Poole as an anime discussion forum, 4chan evolved into a cultural powerhouse that spawned numerous internet phenomena including Pepe the Frog, wojaks, and rage comics. The site was sold to Hiroyuki Nishimura in 2015.
While 4chan's influence on internet culture is undisputed, the platform also became associated with controversial movements like QAnon, the incel community, and various serious incidents including mass shootings and major data leaks.
The final post on 4chan appears to have been a reference to the "Chicken Jockey" meme from the Minecraft movie, potentially marking the last chapter in the site's tumultuous 22-year history.