2016–2019: WannaCry, NotPetya & Mirai
The most destructive years in internet history: nation-state ransomware, the $10B NotPetya wipeout and the IoT botnet that broke the US internet.
Internet Archive Breach and DDoS: 31M Accounts, One Pop-Up
On October 9, 2024, visitors to the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine were greeted by an injected JavaScript pop-up announcing the compromise of 31,081,179 user accounts — the HIBP-confirmed count of the organization's authentication database, loaned from a September exposure of its Zendesk support portal. A concurrent DDoS attributed to SN_BlackMeta compounded the disruption; days later, archived XSS attempts confirmed the org'sJavaScript security debt. This account traces the initial access, the pop-up's evidence chain, and the funding-and-fragility story of a library built on hope.
ChatGPT’s November 2023 DDoS Outages, Explained
For much of 8 November 2023, ChatGPT and parts of OpenAI's API cycled in and out of service under a denial-of-service wave claimed by Anonymous Sudan, with smaller recurrences through the month. OpenAI confirmed the DDoS, rolled global WAF rules, and absorbed a false-positive tax on legitimate users. Nothing was breached — the story is availability risk wrapped around AI dependence. This post walks the campaign's anatomy, Microsoft's Storm-1359 telemetry link, and the business-continuity lessons for anyone running on AI vendors.