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

(old.reddit.com)

50 points by bananaboy3 hours ago

11 comments

shagie1 hour ago
The last week of January, the site was intermittently serving back a 429 response (too many requests) as recorded by the wayback machine. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20260000000000*/Zombo.com" rel="nofollow">https://web.archive.org/web/20260000000000*/Zombo.com</a>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. <a href="https://lookup.icann.org/en/lookup" rel="nofollow">https://lookup.icann.org/en/lookup</a> for zombo.com shows that it was updated on 2026-02-09 20:34:17 UTCI 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.
- bananaboy1 hour ago
 Thank you for the explanation!
paularmstrong2 hours ago
html5 zombocom still exists, for your viewing pleasure. you can do anything at zombocom. anything at all. the only limit is yourself.[1]: <a href="https://html5zombo.com/" rel="nofollow">https://html5zombo.com/</a>
- iugtmkbdfil8342 hours ago
 It will never, ever, get old.
tengbretson2 hours ago
I knew anything was possible at ZomboCom, but damn. I never expected this. Guess that's ZomboCom for ya.
- samplatt1 hour 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.
tombert39 minutes ago
I never imagined this happening. I guess the limitation really was my mind.
TurdF3rguson2 hours ago
How does a hacker steal a website? So many questions.
- silisili2 hours ago
  You steal the domain name, not the website so to speak. Which would mean someone got their registrar credentials most likely.
  - TurdF3rguson2 hours 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.
    - iwontberude1 hour ago
      Yeah that’s because it’s not what happened. It’s a common expiration snipe.
      - TurdF3rguson1 hour ago
        That's neither hacking nor stealing
      - rezonant31 minutes ago
        Except the domain did not expire, if you check WHOIS.
- RevEng1 hour 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.
callbacked1 hour ago
if there is any consolation, this is still up<a href="https://github.com/Jonty/zombocom/" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/Jonty/zombocom/</a><a href="https://welcometozombo.com" rel="nofollow">https://welcometozombo.com</a>
fred_is_fred2 hours 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?
- bananaboy2 hours 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 <a href="https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fzombocom-was-stolen-by-hacker-put-up-for-sale-and-has-now-v0-9u33svykiskg1.png%3Fwidth%3D680%26format%3Dpng%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3D4ba7fee757ef6e1973dc2c851c79d7ad7d9a37e7" rel="nofollow">https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd....</a>
 - Retr0id1 hour ago
 A more direct source for the screenshot: <a href="https://old.reddit.com/r/InternetIsBeautiful/comments/1qz3it6/zombocom_updated_today_and_has_been_ruined/o4bb1ho/" rel="nofollow">https://old.reddit.com/r/InternetIsBeautiful/comments/1qz3it...</a>
mattoxic1 hour ago
Another little corner of the internet is gone.Had to check... but this is still here <a href="https://dack.com/web/bullshit.html" rel="nofollow">https://dack.com/web/bullshit.html</a>
spullara2 hours ago
shoot i show that to people every once in a while
ParadisoShlee1 hour ago
This is a real shame and I hope the original owners get it back... but that ai slop song is actually a banger