ZomboCom stolen by a hacker, sold, now replaced with AI-generated makeover

[−] shagie 44d ago

The last week of January, the site was intermittently serving back a 429 response (too many requests) as recorded by the wayback machine. https://web.archive.org/web/20260000000000*/Zombo.com

In the first week of February, the site was down.

On the 8th, it was serving an error page from centos.

On the 9th, it was serving the new content. https://lookup.icann.org/en/lookup for zombo.com shows that it was updated on 2026-02-09 20:34:17 UTC

I believe that a more reasonable explanation would be that the domain name expired, someone saw that being the case, bought the domain name and hosted their own version of it.

I'm not sure that "stolen" is the proper verb to use, or that "hacker" is the appropriate attribution.

[−] Sophira 44d ago

> the domain name expired

It's possible to tell from an rdap call that this isn't the case:

  Event:
    Action: registration
    Date: 1999-10-10T10:57:47Z
  Event:
    Action: expiration
    Date: 2028-10-10T10:57:47Z
  Event:
    Action: last changed
    Date: 2026-02-09T20:34:17Z

The current registration occurred in 1999. Typically, domain registrations are extended in yearly multiples, which can be seen by the fact that it expires on October 10th, the same day that it was registered.

If it expired in 2025, then that expiration would have occurred in October.

That said, you are probably correct that it wasn't a hacker as such. GoDaddy was indeed offering it for sale in February, according to a Reddit thread from that month[0]. That makes me wonder why...

[0] https://www.reddit.com/r/oldinternet/comments/1qy566h/is_zom...

[−] DANmode 44d ago

That’s what the current page claims, legitimate registration by “New Management”.

> Welcome to… New Management. This domain was purchased openly via GoDaddy. We come in peace (and with a wallet): we’d love to also purchase the rights to the former site's content to help revive the infinite. Until then, everything here is new & unique. Old content rights owners, please reach out. Anything is possible.

[−] bananaboy 44d ago

Thank you for the explanation!

[−] paularmstrong 44d ago

html5 zombocom still exists, for your viewing pleasure. you can do anything at zombocom. anything at all. the only limit is yourself.

[1]: https://html5zombo.com/

[−] iugtmkbdfil834 44d ago

It will never, ever, get old.

[−] jancsika 44d ago

Ooh, I really want to change those svg paths to svg circles. :)

[−] tengbretson 44d ago

I knew anything was possible at ZomboCom, but damn. I never expected this. Guess that's ZomboCom for ya.

[−] samplatt 44d ago

I didn't think I'd be the first person in this (or the reddit) thread to call this new site ZombieCom, but not gonna lie I'm pretty happy about it.

[−] tombert 44d ago

I never imagined this happening. I guess the limitation really was my mind.

[−] OuterVale 44d ago

That's a shame. Now I can't do anything at ZomboCom.

[−] nnx 44d ago

The only limit is yourself!

[−] modriano 43d ago

*was

[−] fred_is_fred 44d ago

The thread is lacking any detail on how the site was stolen and sold. Perhaps the "OG owner" as the poster calls it sold it for money?

[−] bananaboy 44d ago

Yeah I'm not sure. I haven't found anything else yet about this. The reddit poster posted this screenshot of an email with the (apparently) original owner https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd....

[−] Retr0id 44d ago

A more direct source for the screenshot: https://old.reddit.com/r/InternetIsBeautiful/comments/1qz3it...

[−] coldtea 44d ago

That's like when the Library of Alexandria was burned

[−] TurdF3rguson 44d ago

How does a hacker steal a website? So many questions.

[−] silisili 44d ago

You steal the domain name, not the website so to speak. Which would mean someone got their registrar credentials most likely.

[−] TurdF3rguson 44d ago

And transferred it away? Registrars make it really hard to do that if you're not the actual person. I'm finding it hard to believe someone can do this anonymously.

[−] iwontberude 44d ago

Yeah that’s because it’s not what happened. It’s a common expiration snipe.

[−] TurdF3rguson 44d ago

That's neither hacking nor stealing

[−] coldtea 44d ago

Legally and technically no, but it borders on both...

[−] rezonant 44d ago

Except the domain did not expire, if you check WHOIS.

[−] sleight42 43d ago

I mean... anything is possible at zombocom

[−] RevEng 44d ago

Registration expires, someone snaps it up immediately. It happened to a customer of mine with a domain that was their name. It pointed at a page saying it was available for sale for $4000.

[−] webjac 43d ago

I guess the hacker could do anything… at zombocom

[−] callbacked 44d ago

if there is any consolation, this is still up

https://github.com/Jonty/zombocom/

https://welcometozombo.com

[−] Kim_Bruning 44d ago

Crappy flash gets replaced by crappy ai gen. Truly the art of the previous generation surpassed by the art of the next.

I ... honestly have very limited grounds for complaint here.

[−] mattoxic 44d ago

Another little corner of the internet is gone.

Had to check... but this is still here https://dack.com/web/bullshit.html

[−] spullara 44d ago

shoot i show that to people every once in a while

ZomboCom stolen by a hacker, sold, now replaced with AI-generated makeover (old.reddit.com)

37 comments