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A mail server vulnerability has publicly exposed more than a year’s worth of email logs, as well as highlighted security and infrastructure issues, faced by the administrators and maintainers of controversial websites such as 8kun. https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2021/01/07/exposed-email-logs-show-8kun-owner-in-contact-with-qanon-influencers-and-enthusiasts/
The logs, which were publicly visible before the vulnerability was patched last month, show thousands of email contacts made by 8kun administrators as well as by an address that appears to belong to 8kun owner Jim Watkins.
The logs show that, among other things, Watkins has been in regular contact with a number of QAnon enthusiasts as well as several influencers with large followings in the conspiracy movement.
While it is possible to see who is emailing who and when in the logs, it is not possible to view the contents of emails.
Although 8kun, which was previously known as 8chan, has long been known to host anonymous forums riddled with racist, neo-Nazi and anti-Semitic content, it has more recently become home to the baseless QAnon conspiracy that has spread across the US and beyond.
The vulnerable log directories were posted on the 420chan image board, as well as on Twitter, by Aubrey Cottle, the reported co-founder of Anonymous and 420chan. Cottle has declared war on QAnon, which he recently told Gizmodo was “warping minds around the world.”
