archive.today CAPTCHA Generates DDoS-Level Traffic: Evidence and Impact
archive.today CAPTCHA Generates DDoS-Level Traffic: Evidence and Impact
An investigation has confirmed that the CAPTCHA page on archive.today executes client-side code that repeatedly sends automated requests to a third-party blog every 300 milliseconds — a traffic pattern consistent with a sustained DDoS-level attack.
What is happening
When a visitor opens the archive.today CAPTCHA page, a JavaScript loop begins running automatically. This loop sends repeated search requests to a specific blog URL, using random query strings to prevent caching.
As long as the CAPTCHA page remains open, the requests continue — roughly three requests per second.
The script (plain-English explanation)
→ send a request to the blog’s search page
→ use random text so the server can’t cache it
→ repeat nonstop
For non-technical readers: this forces the target website to keep working continuously, consuming CPU, memory, and bandwidth.
Sustained traffic at this rate can slow down or completely knock offline small blogs and personal websites. In real-world impact, this matches how many DDoS attacks operate.
Public reaction
After the findings were published, the issue triggered widespread discussion on Hacker News and Reddit. Users reviewed the screenshots, verified the behavior, and debated the responsibility of third-party services whose code can directly impact other sites.
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