What happened with Cloudflare and archive.today?

Cloudflare blocks archive.today in its DNS

Cloudflare flagged archive.today as command-and-control or botnet-related infrastructure (“C&C/Botnet”) and stopped resolving it through its 1.1.1.2 DNS service. That means requests using Cloudflare’s DNS address can no longer reach archive.today reliably.

Why a DNS block matters

For services that rely on DNS resolution to reach websites—browsers, apps, and automated tooling—removing a domain from a popular resolver’s routing path can function like an effective “soft takedown.” It can disrupt access for users who rely on that DNS channel and can reduce traffic volume to the site.

This is particularly impactful for archive-style services because their value depends on broad reach and the ability to fetch and store copies of content. A resolution block can therefore affect not only casual browsing but also workflows where people use archives to access pages that are otherwise unavailable.

What’s next

No additional technical details were provided in the summary beyond the classification and the removal from resolution via 1.1.1.2. It’s still unclear whether the change is temporary, whether other Cloudflare endpoints also block the domain, or whether archive.today will be able to regain access quickly.

Still, the episode underscores how security reputation systems increasingly influence day-to-day web availability: DNS providers can alter reach to domains based on threat intelligence, even without traditional outage announcements.