Gawker Media Hacked, Warns Users to Change Passwords
December 13, 2010 – 6:56 AME-mail addresses and password details for 200,000 registered users of Gawker Media websites are now circulating on peer-to-peer networks after a weekend hack attack. The company warned users to change their passwords — including on other sites, if they use the same passwords elsewhere.
The websites affected include Lifehacker, Gizmodo, Gawker, Jezebel, io9, Jalopnik, Kotaku, Deadspin and Fleshbot. Users are required to register, providing their e-mail address and a password, in order to leave comments on those websites.
A group named “Gnosis” claimed credit for the attack. The compromised information is now available in a 487 MB file, which can be downloaded from peer-to-peer networks using a torrent now indexed on The Pirate Bay. Other information in the file includes something called “gawker_redesign_beta.jpg” as well as Gawker’s server kernel versions.
In the torrent release notes, Gnosis said “So, here we are again with a monster release of ownage and data droppage. Previous attacks against the target were mocked, so we came along and raised the bar a little.”
The stored passwords were encrypted although Gnosis said some of the passwords have already been cracked.
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