Popular cloud-based backup service Dropbox has just recovered from an outage that took place during an "internal maintenance" which, some allege, was a possible hack.
On Friday night, the website and mobile apps of Dropbox suffered an outage and multiple hacker groups claimed the responsibility for it
"We are aware that the Dropbox site is currently down. This was caused during routine internal maintenance, and was not caused by external factors. We are working to fix this as soon as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience," posted Dropbox on its tech blog.
Two hacker groups - Anonymous Korea and 1775 Sec - claimed to have hacked Dropbox, though Dropbox said the outage was not at all a result of "external factors."
"BREAKING NEWS: We have just compromised the @Dropbox Website https://www.dropbox.com," tweeted AnonOpsKorea and 1775 Sec just after the outage.
BREAKING NEWS: We have just compromised the @Dropbox Website https://t.co/HtnbT5cyhE #hacked #compromised
— Anonymous (@AnonOpsKorea) January 11, 2014
BREAKING NEWS: We have just compromised the @Dropbox Website https://t.co/HqnsZOLSXR #hacked #compromised — The 1775 Sec (@1775Sec) January 11, 2014
1775 Sec also claimed that they had successfully stolen a list of email addresses from Dropbox and posted it publicly. Dropbox rebutted the claims and said "in regards to claims of "leaked user information" - this is a hoax. This is not Dropbox data."
Dropbox also tweeted: "Dropbox site is back up! Claims of leaked user info are a hoax. The outage was caused during internal maintenance. Thanks for your patience!" after recovering from the outage.
Dropbox site is back up! Claims of leaked user info are a hoax. The outage was caused during internal maintenance. Thanks for your patience!
- Dropbox (@Dropbox) January 11, 2014
Even as the media wondered what really happened, 1775 Sec later tweeted that its claim of hacking Dropbox was just to troll the media in "honor" of Internet activist Aaron Swartz.
"Did anyone bother to do some research. lol. We made the Internet Reporters look like fools! That is what we did in your honor Aaron Swartz," it tweeted.
Did anyone bother to do some research. lol. We made the Internet Reporters look like fools! That is what we did in your honor Aaron Swartz
— The 1775 Sec (@1775Sec) January 11, 2014
Dropbox is a leading online backup service that provides cloud storage and file synchronizations. In November last year, the service managed to cross 200 million users mark. In 2011, Dropbox was criticized heavily for its flawed "cloud" technology model after TechCrunch reported that the Dropbox accounts could be accessed without password for four hours. However, the bug was ultimately fixed.
