Already under sustained pressure from multiple attempts to permanently shut it down, the Internet Archive, the nonprofit digital library that preserves billions of web pages, books, and cultural materials, went offline this morning across Europe. The sudden outage sent researchers scrambling, particularly those with limited resources who rely on the Archive to save pages or consult materials that no longer exist elsewhere.

Why are we concerned?

On/around 28 September 2024, the Archive's "The Wayback Machine" suffered a data breach after a threat actor compromised the website and stole a user authentication database, containing 31 million unique records.  That incident took 916 billion saved webpages offline and highlighting the vulnerabilities faced by the digital heritage preservation platform used by OSINT researchers around the world.  

It is not yet confirmed whether today’s outage is the result of a second cyberattack, but the error messages appearing on the site resemble those displayed during the previous breach.

Why all this matters

The Internet Archive functions as the world’s largest repository of digital memory. Since its founding in 1996, the nonprofit has automatically crawled, stored, and periodically recaptured snapshots of the web. By 2024, it had archived approximately 916 billion webpages, along with millions of books, audio recordings, videos, and digital documents.

This makes the platform a kind of digital archaeological site, allowing researchers to trace the evolution of websites through its virtual stratigraphy: who published what, when, and how it changed over time. When a resource of this scale and significance goes offline, access to that layered history disappears instantly. It is, in effect, the digital equivalent of watching your most valuable library burn; taking with it countless out-of-print or once-accessible materials.

A reminder of digital fragility

Events like these underscore the risks of depending on a single digital repository to safeguard the collective memory of the internet. A major or prolonged outage represents a form of digital amnesia: a loss of memory, a severed connection to the records which for some of us, can make or break the documentation chain around the circulation of works of art. 

They also remind us that even nonprofit, mission-driven institutions with global importance lie the Internet Archive remain vulnerable to outages, data breaches, and sophisticated cyberattacks. Redundancy, decentralisation, and robust backup strategy are therefor essential for anyone working in the field of digital heritage preservation.

Alternative archiving tools — and their limitations

While the Internet Archive remains the most comprehensive resource of its kind, researchers frequently turn to alternative services during outages. One widely used option is archive.ph (also known as archive.today), a free, user-driven snapshot service that stores a single manual capture of any page submitted to it.

Unlike the Internet Archive, archive.ph does not crawl websites automatically, and each page must be saved manually by a user. This can create gaps in coverage, especially for fast-changing or ephemeral content. Additionally, the site is blocked or partially restricted in several countries due to jurisdictional disputes over content and concerns about bypassing paywalls. It can still be accessed, however, by routing traffic through a VPN or the TOR browser. Because archive.ph relies entirely on manual submissions and lacks any long-term institutional mandate, its preservation value is fundamentally different from, and considerably more limited than, that of the Internet Archive. For this reason, we strongly recommend saving any archived pages to your own data files as well.

As the Internet Archive works to restore service and ensure the integrity of its data, today’s disruption serves as an urgent reminder. Digital preservation should not rely on any one system, no matter how vital, or free, to carry the weight of our shared cultural memory.

Organisations or researchers with a budget to invest in more robust, controlled, or institutional-grade preservation tools can choose from several paid archiving solutions.  Hunchly being the one I personally find invaluable as it can also be configured to document the full path a researcher took to reach any captured page.  Not cheap, but essential for ARCA’s work.

Bellingcat also offers an Auto Archiver tool designed to capture online content before it can be altered, removed, or taken offline, providing another layer of security for digital evidence preservation.

So let's use today's outage event as a cautionary tale. While the Wayback Machine will come back on line.  Do you have a backup in place so you don't lose important records?

By:  Lynda Albertson

As the illicit trade in art and antiquities continues to thrive in both licit and grey markets, the need for sharp, investigative methodologies has never been greater. OSINT — the practice of collecting and analysing publicly available data — has proven to be a powerful tool in tracing looted cultural objects, debunking false provenances, identifying stolen artworks in circulation, and documenting digital evidence for restitution claims.

The new series of challenges will simulate real-world provenance research and investigative tasks, encouraging participants to hone skills in geolocation, reverse image search, metadata analysis, social media tracing, and transaction monitoring — all in the context of cultural property crime. Whether you're a student, journalist, researcher, or investigator, developing OSINT fluency can enhance your ability to verify ownership histories, identify risk indicators, and contribute to more transparent, ethical collecting practices.

By partnering with Bellingcat, ARCA aims to not only raise awareness of the role of digital research in cultural heritage protection but also to build a community of problem-solvers committed to uncovering the hidden stories behind stolen art.

W£ant to try your hand?  The first of the challenges can be unlocked here. Will you be the one to crack the case?