ZomboCom stolen by a hacker, sold, now replaced with AI-generated makeover (opens in new tab)

(old.reddit.com)

76 pointsbananaboy1mo ago37 comments

37 comments

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.

Sophira1mo 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...

DANmode1mo 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.

bananaboyOP1mo ago

Thank you for the explanation!

paularmstrong1mo 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/

iugtmkbdfil8341mo ago

It will never, ever, get old.

jancsika1mo ago

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

tengbretson1mo ago

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

samplatt1mo 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.

tombert1mo ago

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

OuterVale1mo ago

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

nnx1mo ago

The only limit is yourself!

modriano1mo ago

*was

fred_is_fred1mo 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?

bananaboyOP1mo 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....

Retr0id1mo ago

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

coldtea1mo ago

That's like when the Library of Alexandria was burned

TurdF3rguson1mo ago

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

silisili1mo ago

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

TurdF3rguson1mo 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.

iwontberude1mo ago

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

2 more replies

sleight421mo ago

I mean... anything is possible at zombocom

RevEng1mo 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.

gitaarik1mo ago

Don't domain registars auto-renew domains for you?

shagie1mo ago

If your credit card is current. One of the "oh, this gets into trouble" is when you do a 10 year registration paid in advance and the credit card on file expires before the auto-renewal time.

The registrar will poke you, and put up warnings when you log into the server to check on your account that your auto renewal is coming up soon and the card on file has expired.

But if you're not paying attention to your domain registrations, or the renewal reminder emails get sent to the spam folder, or you've lost access to the original email address that you had to register it a decade ago, then godaddy is quite happy to put up a lander page with some inflated price on it and sell it to someone else.

webjac1mo ago

I guess the hacker could do anything… at zombocom

callbacked1mo ago

if there is any consolation, this is still up

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

https://welcometozombo.com

Kim_Bruning1mo 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.

mattoxic1mo ago

Another little corner of the internet is gone.

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

spullara1mo ago

shoot i show that to people every once in a while

ParadisoShlee1mo ago

This is a real shame and I hope the original owners get it back... but that ai slop song is actually a banger

Kim_Bruning1mo ago

Right? I grabbed it! Noticed the text says they're willing to host the original content and they'll pay for it?

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

37 comments

shagie1mo 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.

Sophira1mo 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

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...

DANmode1mo ago

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

bananaboyOP1mo ago

Thank you for the explanation!

paularmstrong1mo 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/

iugtmkbdfil8341mo ago

It will never, ever, get old.

jancsika1mo ago

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

tengbretson1mo ago

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

samplatt1mo 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.

tombert1mo ago

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

OuterVale1mo ago

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

nnx1mo ago

The only limit is yourself!

modriano1mo ago

*was

fred_is_fred1mo 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?

bananaboyOP1mo ago

Retr0id1mo ago

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

coldtea1mo ago

That's like when the Library of Alexandria was burned

TurdF3rguson1mo ago

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

silisili1mo ago

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

TurdF3rguson1mo 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.

iwontberude1mo ago

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

2 more replies

sleight421mo ago

I mean... anything is possible at zombocom

RevEng1mo 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.

gitaarik1mo ago

Don't domain registars auto-renew domains for you?

shagie1mo ago

If your credit card is current. One of the "oh, this gets into trouble" is when you do a 10 year registration paid in advance and the credit card on file expires before the auto-renewal time.

The registrar will poke you, and put up warnings when you log into the server to check on your account that your auto renewal is coming up soon and the card on file has expired.

webjac1mo ago

I guess the hacker could do anything… at zombocom

callbacked1mo ago

if there is any consolation, this is still up

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

https://welcometozombo.com

Kim_Bruning1mo 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.

mattoxic1mo ago

Another little corner of the internet is gone.

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