Image Board 4chan Alleged Hack Leaks Source Code Online, Soyjak Party Claims Attack

• A section of 4chan was reportedly hacked, and staff administration panels and maintenance tools were exposed.
• Some data leaked online, but the platform's administration has not confirmed the breach publicly.
• Yet, a few moderators have anonymously validated the authenticity of the leaked materials.

The notorious internet message board 4chan has reportedly fallen victim to a significant cyberattack, leading to a widespread outage. Members of the Soyjak.party imageboard (aka The Party or Sharty) later claimed the attack.

The incident, first detected on April 15, exposed the platform's backend infrastructure, its source code, and sensitive internal information.

The breach came to light when a defunct section of the site displayed a prominent message reading, "U GOT HACKED." Screenshots circulating online suggest that the platform's internal tools, user management systems, and a list of moderators and janitors were compromised.

Later on the same day, 4chan's PHP source code was also leaked on the Kiwi Farms forum (CWCki Forums).

Alon Gal, co-founder of Israeli cybercrime monitoring company Hudson Rock, described the claims as "legit," according to Reuters, based on the detailed and authentic-looking screenshots of 4chan's backend systems. 

According to an X post, Soyjak Party restored the /qa/ board and leaked moderators' email addresses (some with real names), passwords, IPs, and Internet Relay Chat (IRC). Another post attributed the hack to an out-of-date and flawed PHP version and “a deprecated function to interact with [their] MySQL database.”

According to reports, the leaked data includes the personal information of 4chan Pass subscribers, a paid membership service. These users gain access to exclusive features like bypassing posting limits. 

Soyjak Party is mostly made up of former 4chan members of the /qa/ board in 2020 after the board was banned.

The site, infamous for its minimal moderation and controversial content, hosts a diverse range of subcultures. However, the forum's political and cultural boards have often been linked with extremist ideologies, including alt-right rhetoric, incel communities, and conspiracy theories such as QAnon. 

The breach might reveal key identities behind this influential yet clandestine platform. Beyond the exposure of personal information, the incident made the platform intermittently inaccessible in the aftermath.