The 4chan Hack: When the Internet's Toilet Got Flooded – And What That Means for Your Business
In April 2025, the bottom fell out of one of the internet’s dankest corners. That’s right – 4chan, the self-proclaimed Wild West of online communities, got hacked. Not by bored teenagers or some faceless ransomware gang hoping for a crypto payday. No, this time it was personal. The attackers were internet rivals with a score to settle. And settle it, they did – leaking moderator data, upending anonymity, and making 4chan look like it was running its servers out of a rusty biscuit tin.
Now, if you're a UK business leader – especially in the SMB space – you might be thinking: “What does this digital cesspit have to do with my company’s network?” A lot more than you’d think. Because while the content of 4chan might be very, very not safe for work, the security lessons from this debacle are pure gold.
Let’s flush away the nonsense and get into it.
Welcome to the Internet’s Basement: What is 4chan Anyway?
Imagine if every chaotic, weird, and sometimes deeply unhinged part of the internet moved into a single flat, and no one ever cleaned the kitchen. That’s 4chan. Founded in 2003, it’s an anonymous imageboard where anyone can post (almost) anything, without even creating an account.
Over the years, 4chan has birthed a good chunk of meme culture – everything from Rickrolling to Pepe the Frog – but it’s also been linked to less charming things like doxxing campaigns, QAnon conspiracies, and content so offensive it would make a Daily Mail comment section blush.
So, no, it’s not your average online community. But it is a platform with real users, real systems, and, as it turns out, real vulnerabilities.
The Hack: A Digital Pie in the Face
On April 14th, users started noticing 4chan was down. Not just glitchy – down. By the next day, the homepage was showing strange messages, including the wonderfully understated “U GOT HACKED XD”.
Turns out, someone had gained full admin access and was using it to bring chaos. They reopened a previously banned board called /qa/, posted from what looked like the site owner’s account, and splattered the internet with leaked data. It was like someone breaking into Buckingham Palace and live-streaming themselves trying on the crown jewels.
The attackers claimed they’d had access to 4chan’s backend for over a year. Let that sink in. They didn’t just break in – they moved in, rearranged the furniture, and waited patiently for the right moment to wreck the place.
The Leaks: What Got Spilled (and Why It Matters)
What did they actually get their hands on? In short, everything that wasn’t nailed down:
Source Code
Yes, the literal code that runs 4chan. This is like publishing the blueprints to a bank’s vault. It opens up all sorts of potential for copycats, exploiters, and bored kids with too much time.
Moderator and Janitor Data
4chan's mods and “janitors” (yes, that's really what they call their low-level helpers) were supposed to be anonymous. Not anymore. The leak included usernames and email addresses, some linked to universities and government agencies. Can you imagine someone moderating that content using their .gov email? Because apparently someone did.
User Data and Admin Tools
Posts, user IP addresses, admin dashboards – you name it. Screenshots showed internal tools displaying user posts alongside IPs, meaning anyone with access could connect anonymous posts to real-world users. That’s a massive breach of trust for a site built on anonymity.
4chan Pass Info
4chan has a paid option called a Pass to bypass CAPTCHAs. The leak may have included email addresses tied to those subscriptions. Financial info hasn’t been confirmed in the wild yet, but even emails alone can be enough for phishing or harassment.
Internal Communications
Because why stop at leaking data when you can also share the juicy mod group chats? Reports suggest internal messages between staff were included. That’s everything from banning decisions to, probably, someone complaining that /b/ smells like feet.
The Culprits: Soyjak Strikes Back
The hackers weren’t anonymous black hats from Eastern Europe. They were members of a rival imageboard called Soyjak.party – a breakaway faction with a longstanding grudge against 4chan.
It’s as if a group of ex-employees stormed their former office, flipped the coffee machine, and sent embarrassing company emails to every client.
Why? Petty revenge, mostly. The /qa/ board, once their hangout spot, had been banned from 4chan years ago. Reopening it was symbolic. Posting as 4chan’s owner was the cherry on top. This wasn’t about money. It was about humiliation.
The attackers called it “Operation Soyclipse.” Internet drama doesn’t get more high-budget than this.
The How: Oh Look, They Didn’t Patch. Shocker.
Now comes the part where IT people groan and say “we told you so.” According to multiple sources, 4chan was running on wildly outdated software. Think: PHP from 2016. For comparison, that’s pre-COVID, pre-Wordle, and pre the last time you updated your toaster.
The site was apparently using deprecated functions and still had phpMyAdmin exposed – a database management tool so juicy that hackers scan the internet just hoping someone’s left it unprotected.
So yes, this wasn’t a sophisticated zero-day exploit. This was a burglar trying the doorknob, finding it unlocked, and discovering a note that says “the valuables are under the bed.”
The attacker likely used a basic vulnerability in the PHP setup or a misconfigured admin panel to get in. Once they had access, they created admin accounts, looted the place, and then waited. That’s the spooky bit. They didn’t attack immediately – they watched, gathered intel, and only went nuclear when it suited them.
Why SMBs Should Care (No, Really)
We hear you. You’re not 4chan. You’re not hosting anime memes or political flame wars. But here’s the uncomfortable truth: you’re still a target. And everything that went wrong here? Totally preventable. Totally relevant to you.
Here’s what 4chan’s faceplant teaches the rest of us:
1. Old Software is a Lawsuit Waiting to Happen
If your site or internal tools are still running on legacy code, you’re begging for trouble. Not updating PHP, WordPress, your CRM – whatever – is like leaving a ladder up to the second-floor window. Eventually, someone’s going to climb it.
2. Admin Interfaces Should Be Locked Down
If your database tools are publicly accessible without IP whitelisting or MFA (multi-factor authentication), congratulations – you’re 4chan in 2024. Bonus points if you’re still using “admin” as a username.
3. Monitor for the Weird Stuff
The hacker lived in 4chan’s system for a year. That’s an eternity in cybercrime. A bit of anomaly detection – login patterns, new user accounts, odd database queries – might have caught this sooner. If you’re not logging or reviewing access reports, you won’t know you’ve been pwned until it’s too late.
4. Collect Less, Store Less, Lose Less
4chan didn’t need to retain IP addresses tied to posts indefinitely. Neither do you need to hoard customer data for the next five years. The less you store, the less you lose when (not if) something goes wrong.
5. Silence is Not a Crisis Comms Strategy
4chan has said nothing officially about the breach. One email to a journalist included a link to an explicit video. Classy. Your business can’t get away with that. If something goes wrong, communicate clearly, quickly, and honestly. Customers will forgive a mistake. They won’t forgive a cover-up.
6. Animosity is a Threat Vector
The attackers here weren’t strangers. They were former users with an axe to grind. For you, that could be a disgruntled ex-employee, a competitor’s dodgy cousin, or someone you accidentally offended on LinkedIn. Insider threats and motivated trolls are real. Make sure access is revoked when people leave, and review who has admin rights regularly.
A Reputation Bleeds Faster Than a Server
4chan’s whole brand is built around chaos and anonymity, but even they have reputational damage to deal with. Users now know their data wasn’t safe. Mods are being harassed in real life. Rival forums are gloating with popcorn in hand.
If your company is ever breached, the public won’t care if it was some Russian botnet or your cousin Barry who clicked a dodgy link. They’ll care about one thing: “Can I still trust you with my data?”
Lose that trust, and you lose customers.
The Inevitable Legal Bit
Let’s not forget data laws. If 4chan has EU users (and they probably do), they could be in breach of GDPR. Storing personal data without adequate protection? Failing to notify users? That’s fineable.
In the UK, under the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office), a similar standard applies. If your business holds personal data, you need to secure it. If it gets out, you must notify the ICO and affected individuals within 72 hours.
4chan, of course, will likely ignore that. You? You won’t get away with it.
So What Should You Do (Right Now)?
Let’s end with some homework. If the phrase “4chan got hacked” didn’t make you immediately audit your own setup, here’s your nudge:
Check for outdated software. If your CMS, database, plugins, or server tools haven’t been updated since before the pandemic, fix it.
Review admin access. Who has it, do they still need it, and is it protected with MFA?
Lock down sensitive tools. PhpMyAdmin, cPanel, anything that talks to your database – hide it behind IP filtering or a VPN.
Delete what you don’t need. Old customer records, expired tokens, logs from 2019 – less is safer.
Run a breach simulation. Test what would happen if you were compromised. Do you know who to call? How to inform customers? Where the backups are?
Talk to someone who knows. If you’re not sure how secure you are, hire a proper IT partner or cybersecurity firm to review it. It’s cheaper than cleaning up after a breach.
Final Thoughts: Don’t Be the Next Punchline
4chan getting hacked is internet drama at its finest. But take away the memes and mockery, and you’re left with a simple, brutal truth: basic cybersecurity hygiene could have stopped this.
This wasn’t a nation-state attack. This was a group of nerds with a grudge and an eye for sloppy admin work. And if it can happen to a site with millions of users, it can absolutely happen to your five-person business.
So, next time someone in your office grumbles about updating plugins or enabling MFA, just say one word: “4chan.”
Trust me – no one wants to be the internet’s next cautionary tale.
