Gawker Database Hacked

If you visit sites from Gawker Media such as Gizmodo, Kotaku, Lifehacker etc and comment on their sites regularly, then change your password ASAP. According to mediaite.com, the Gawker comment database was hacked and over 1.5 million usernames, passwords and e-mail addresses were compromised.

_No evidence left behind

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Gawker editorial director Scott Kidder initially denied the security breach, but later confirmed the hack. In a statement issued to the site, Kidder said “Our user databases do indeed appear to have been compromised. The passwords were encrypted, but simple ones may be vulnerable to a brute-force attack. You should change the password on Gawker (GED/commenting system) and on any other sites on which you’ve used the same passwords. Out of an abundance of caution, you should also change your company e-mail password and any passwords that might have appeared in your email messages.”

An unknown source sent a note taking responsibility for the hack and also said it was done due to Gawker’s arrogant behaviour. Some suspect that users from the message board ‘4chan’ maybe responsible as the Gawker logs include a comment in which the Gawker staff said they weren’t afraid of the 4chan hacker community.