The notorious online platform 4chan was reportedly compromised on Tuesday.

As of this writing, the 4chan website was inaccessible, and social media users indicated the site had been intermittently offline for several hours.

Messages on a competing message board, which TechCrunch saw, praised the hack. One person said the hacker who caused the problem had been inside 4chan's system for more than a year.

Screenshots that seem to show the back end of 4chan were shared online. These screenshots reportedly show the site's source code and templates used to ban users, which only moderators should be able to see. The leaked information also had a list of people who are said to be 4chan moderators and 'janitors.' Janitors can delete posts and threads, but they have less power than moderators, who can also see users' IP addresses, for example.

Because 4chan is known for its connections to violent political groups, this cyberattack might reveal the people who run these forums, which have become very important for alt-right movements.

TechCrunch contacted several of the leaked email addresses and talked to one person linked to one of them. A 4chan moderator, who wanted to stay anonymous, said they were sure the leaked data and screenshots were real.

"I have no grounds to assume otherwise," the janitor stated.

"I'm somewhat taken aback. While 4chan's moderation team has experienced past leaks, this obviously constitutes a more significant issue," the janitor informed TechCrunch. "I am not pleased with the situation, and I'm sure most others share that sentiment. However, many of us have been involved in this for a considerable duration. Doxxing is a long-established activity on 4chan, and the potential for our identities to be exposed has always been a persistent concern."

The janitor said, 'I've been most worried about the leaked information, for clear reasons.' He added, 'I think the fact that 4chan was basically taken over by a hacker or hackers is probably worse than just screenshots, especially when you think about the site continuing to work.'

According to the janitor, it seems the hacker acquired the personal details of 4chan Pass subscribers, individuals who pay the site to circumvent post limits and access an exclusive board.

4chan did not furnish a response to an email soliciting comment, dispatched to the website's official press contact.

4chan is an online forum where people can post anonymously. It works like a hidden, darker part of the internet. Often, it is an image board where users seem bored and try to shock each other by posting very offensive things. Sometimes, ideas from 4chan spread into the real world as simple internet jokes or as hateful words that encourage right-wing violence.

Memes like Pepe the Frog and others first became popular on 4chan, and now you see them everywhere online. But 4chan is most known for its political sections, where extreme ideas can turn young people towards white supremacist beliefs. QAnon, a group of far-right conspiracy theorists who support President Donald Trump, also started on 4chan.

The person who killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019 had used 4chan regularly since he was a teenager. In 2022, an 18-year-old man killed 10 Black people at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. His long document, which was 180 pages, used ideas from what the Christchurch killer wrote online.