Thread by @JulieTheCranky

Another #DeepDive on the Epik hack because I'm curious as to what exactly's going on. The people I know who know about this stuff are too busy screaming. "The 180 gigabyte trove of data could shine light on some of the internet’s most odious corners."

motherjones.com/politics/2021/…

"...“a decade’s worth of data from the company” has been obtained, including all domain purchases, domain transfers, and unredacted website registration data that could shed light on individuals and groups behind extremist or hate sites."

That alone is huge because - I'm sure you'd guess if you don't know - a lot of the really nasty, hateful, icky sites don't reveal who runs them. Dark web shit.

And now here it all is, open to the public.

"The company has called itself the “Swiss Bank of Domains,” with company CEO Rob Monster joking earlier this year to NPR that he’s “the Lex Luthor of the internet.”

I wonder how that's all working out for Rob, now.

"Epik’s clients include Gab, the social networking platform where a user boasted about targeting a Pittsburgh synagogue just before carrying out his deadly assault, and Parler, whose links to the January 6 attack on the US Capitol got it booted by major tech providers."

"Emma Best, a key figure with DDoS Secrets, a web archive with a public interest mission of hosting hacked and leaked data [stated] the site was working to obtain the materials and share them with researchers and journalists. ...preparing 180 gigabytes of data..."

"Tuesday afternoon, Gizmodo reported that a company spokesperson claimed Epik had mounted an investigation but was “not aware of any breach.”

Why, yes. I have a bridge. Would you be interested in buying it?

And that's about all we've got, for now. In the mean time I suggest we follow Emma Best at @NatSecGeek and brace for collision.