8chan’s ZeroNet Backup Sees Surge in Activity Amid Service Disruptions
Summary
DarkOwl reported that an 8chan backup on ZeroNet, observed since April, became active as the forum faced service disruptions and DDoS attacks. An 8chan admin denied that the team created the backup; the claim remained under investigation.
Key points
- DarkOwl said it had records of an 8chan ZeroNet site dating to at least early April, with little activity before the weekend described in the article.
- DarkOwl reported a sharp increase in users and posts on the ZeroNet site, which it characterized as a backup hub.
- The article said Cloudflare ended security services for 8chan; 8chan then shifted to BitMitigate, whose service status and reasons for going offline were described as unclear.
- 8chan’s surface website and Tor service reportedly suffered outages amid large-scale DDoS attacks. The article said the Tor service was back online by Tuesday afternoon.
- An 8chan admin denied that the team set up the ZeroNet site. DarkOwl said it would continue investigating who was responsible. The article also noted a congressional demand for 8chan’s owner to answer questions about extremist content.
Article Details
- Event Type
- 8chan established an emergency backup forum on ZeroNet and experienced service outages after losing DDoS protection.
- Impact
- 8chan’s surface website and Tor hidden service went offline following large-scale DDoS attacks targeting its servers. The article reports that the Tor service was restored by Tuesday afternoon and that activity on the ZeroNet forum increased sharply, with thousands of posts in the preceding 48 hours.
MITRE ATT&CK
People
Frederick BrennanIdentified as 8chan’s creator, who no longer ran the forum and called for it to be shut down.Jim WatkinsIdentified as the owner of 8chan; the article reports that Homeland Security sent him a letter demanding that he appear before Congress.RonAn 8chan administrator who, using the handle CodeMonkeyZ, denied that 8chan’s team created the ZeroNet bunker.
Vendors
BitMitigateIt is confirmed that after losing CloudFlare, 8chan then shifted to BitMitigate security protection services, who also provide DDOS protection to White Supremacist news outlet The Daily Stormer.Cloudflare8chan used CloudFlare’s services to protect it from DDOS attack, until over this past weekend Cloudflare chose to terminate its security services for 8chan servers, calling it a “cesspool of hate.”
Products
8chan(8/7/19 1:45pm MST): We’ve now learned that Homeland Security has sent a letter to 8chan owner Jim Watkins demanding he come before Congress and answer questions on the site’s extremist content.TorTraditionally, 8chan has operated on the surface web (8chan.net), while also maintaining a mirror .onion site on the popular darknet, Tor.ZeroNet(8/7/19 11:30am MST): One of 8chan’s admins published a tweet denying that 8chan is behind the creation of their ZeroNet bunker.