The well-known website 4chan was attacked by hackers on Tuesday.

When I wrote this, the 4chan website was not working, and people on social media said the site had stopped working for hours sometimes.

Posts on another message board, seen by TechCrunch, were happy about the hack, and someone said the hacker was inside 4chan's system for more than a year.

Some pictures that appeared online seemed to show the private parts of the website 4chan. These pictures showed things like the hidden code and ways to stop users from posting.

Because 4chan is known for political violence, this online attack could reveal the people who run these forums, which are now very important for alt-right groups.

TechCrunch contacted some people whose email addresses were shared online and spoke to one of them. A person who helps manage the website 4chan spoke to TechCrunch without giving their name and said they think the shared information is completely true.

"I have no reason to think differently," the janitor said.

I'm quite surprised. 4chan's team that checks content has had information leaked before, but this is clearly a much bigger problem," the worker told TechCrunch. "I don't like this situation. I'm sure most other people don't either. But many of us have been working here for a long time. Finding and sharing people's private information is a common activity on 4chan, and we knew there was always a chance our own information could be shared.

"I was very worried about the information that was shared without permission, for clear reasons," the janitor said. "I think that a hacker or hackers taking control of 4chan is probably worse than the screenshots, at least so the website can keep working."

The janitor also said that it looks like the hacker got personal information from people who subscribe to 4chan Pass. Subscribers pay the site to avoid waiting between posts and to use a special VIP area.

4chan did not reply to an email asking for a comment. The email was sent to the website's press email address.

4chan is a website where people share messages and pictures. It is known for having very shocking content. Sometimes, things that start on 4chan spread to the real world as harmless internet jokes or as harmful ideas that can cause violence.

Memes like Pepe the Frog and others first became popular on 4chan, but now you see them everywhere online. However, 4chan is perhaps most famous for its political sections, where extreme right-wing ideas can influence young people to believe in white supremacist views. QAnon, a group with unusual political beliefs who support President Donald Trump, also began on 4chan.

In 2019, a man shot and killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. He had used the website 4chan often since he was a teenager. In 2022, an 18-year-old man killed 10 Black people at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. He wrote a long statement that used ideas from what the Christchurch shooter wrote online.