Dropbox not hacked, outage was due to routine internal maintenance issue
Dropbox users can rest assured, as the previous claim that the site has been hacked has proved to be nothing more than a hoax.
As an increasing number of users prefer to back up their data online, Dropbox is among the most popular choices for cloud storage. The service is constantly seeing new users, while old ones are increasingly relying on Dropbox to keep their data safe.
When popular backup service Dropbox went offline for maintenance, it was believed that notorious hacktivist Anonymous hacked the service, causing the outage. This belief stemmed from a post from an alleged Anonymous Twitter account.
"BREAKING NEWS: We have just compromised the @Dropbox Website dropbox.com," read a tweet on Jan. 11 from an alleged Anonymous Twitter account (@AnonOpsKorea).
Dropbox responded promptly to assure everyone that this was not the case, denying that its website had been hacked.
"We are aware of an issue currently affecting the Dropbox site. We have identified the cause, which was the result of an issue that arose during routine internal maintenance, and are working to fix this as soon as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience," Dropbox explained in a company blog post.
It's also worth noting that another hacktivist group has also claimed credit for the hack. Collective 1775sec has mocked Dropbox' denial and claimed that it hacked the service in honor of fallen Internet activist Aaron Swartz. The same 1775sec also said that they stole a list of email addresses from Dropbox and dumped it on pastebin.com. A well-known Anonymous Twitter account seems to confirm that 1775sec was behind the purported hack, and not Anonymous.
In an attempt to further clarify this issue, Dropbox has issued an update to its original statement, again denying the allegations that its service had been hacked.
"UPDATE: Dropbox site is back up! Claims of leaked user information are a hoax. The outage was caused during internal maintenance. Thanks for your patience!"
Whether it was a hack or just internal maintenance, or a hack covered up by some internal maintenance, the Dropbox website is now back up and working properly. Dropbox further assured that the data 1775sec dumped on Pastebin was not Dropbox data.