Hacktivist group Anonymous reportedly obtained gigabytes of data from web hosting company Epik and leaked decades of data online.
Besides being a web server, Epik also provides its clients with domain names and DNS services. However, like bulletproof hosting companies, it has a reputation for providing web space to many clients struggling to find accommodation elsewhere due to the nature of its content.
Anonymous started with 4chan in 2003 and became famous for hacking many large companies such as the Church of Scientology, Westboro Baptist Church, PayPal, Mastercard, Visa, and Sony. If you're familiar with Sam Esmail's Robot, the show's hacking group society was inspired by anonymity.
In total, Anonymous claims to have obtained over 180GB of data from Epik, and this stolen data is now being posted online as a torrent. The dataset is said to contain payment history, account credentials, WHOIS history, domain purchases, DNS changes, and detailed information about the company's customers.
Operation Epik fails
Anonymous first began targeting Epik after the Texas Heartbeat Act, which imposes strict restrictions on when women can have an abortion, was signed earlier this month. As part of the new law, any Texas resident can file a civil lawsuit against another person who will have an abortion or help with the abortion six weeks later.
After losing GoDaddy hosting, the whistleblower website for the Texas Right to Life group turned to Epik as a new registrar, nameserver, and not hosting. Epik immediately notified the site owners that it violated the company's terms of service, but the move exposed the web host to Anonymous's radar.
in the meantime TechRadar Pro I asked Epik for a statement, but there was no response at the time of writing. Ars Technica A company spokesperson provided further details on this issue, stating:
โWe are not aware of any infraction. We take the security of our customers' data very seriously and are investigating the allegations. "
To insult the injury, Anonymous changed Epik's knowledge base to poke fun at the company by denying the breach.
More will be found when security researchers analyze and validate the records of all companies and customers in Anonymous's 180 GB torrent.
Via Ars Technica
