The news hit the interwebs that Gawker Media, who has Gizmodo, Fleshbot (NSFW), Lifehacker among their stable of websites got their database of usernames hacked:
“This weekend we discovered that Gawker Media’s servers were compromised, resulting in a security breach at Lifehacker, Gizmodo, Gawker, Jezebel, io9, Jalopnik, Kotaku, Deadspin, and Fleshbot,” the media site says.
The result is really bad. According to Forbes, the people behind the hack are now using this information are now using it to break into thousands of Twitter accounts. Let that be a lesson to anyone who uses the same password for multiple things. That’s easy to say, but hard to do (and keep track of). In any case, if you have a logon for Gawker Media, and you share that logon with anything else, you might want to change the password ASAP. Even if you don’t, I’d change the password anyway.
But the story doesn’t end there. This morning, I got this e-mail:
Hi there,
Hint wanted to let you know that your email address and password that you used to signup for Gawker (or one of its sites) were hacked. Forbes’ coverage is here
In situations like this, time is of the essence, which is why we were surprised & shocked to find that Gawker Media hadn’t taken the initiative to notify you of this privacy breach immediately. We HIGHLY recommend you change all of your online passwords as a precaution.
-The Team at Hint
(This is a one time email)
Who the hell is Hint? I’ve never heard of them before today. I figured that it was spam, but some research found that this e-mail might actually be legit.
Sort of.
A bunch of “do gooders” have been sending out these e-meils according to this story to warn Gawker Media users. Even if this is legit, an e-mail like this should have come from Gawker Media and not from some “do gooders” who got these e-mail addresses somehow. It really doesn’t do much to make Gawker Media look like its trying to do the right thing. They really need to get their act together and do more for their users than put up a FAQ.
UPDATE: If you want to find out if your Gawker Media account was hacked, check out this site.
UPDATE x2: I just got this e-mail from Gwaker Media (at 9:00 PM EST on Monday Dec. 13th):
This weekend we discovered that Gawker Media’s servers were compromised, resulting in a security breach at Lifehacker, Gizmodo, Gawker, Jezebel, io9, Jalopnik, Kotaku, Deadspin, and Fleshbot. As a result, the user name and password associated with your comment account were released on the internet. If you’re a commenter on any of our sites, you probably have several questions.
We understand how important trust is on the internet, and we’re deeply sorry for and embarrassed about this breach of security. Right now we are working around the clock to improve security moving forward. We’re also committed to communicating openly and frequently with you to make sure you understand what has happened, how it may or may not affect you, and what we’re doing to fix things.
This is what you should do immediately: Try to change your password in the Gawker Media Commenting System. If you used your Gawker Media password on any other web site, you should change the password on those sites as well, particularly if you used the same username or email with that site. To be safe, however, you should change the password on those accounts whether or not you were using the same username.
We’re continually updating an FAQ (http://lifehac.kr/eUBjVf) with more information and will continue to do so in the coming days and weeks.
Gawker Media
Better late than never I suppose.
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This entry was posted on December 13, 2010 at 12:04 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Gawker, Hacked. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Gwaker Media Usernames And Passwords Hacked…. But They Could Do A Better Job In Terms Of Telling Users About It [UPDATED x2]
The news hit the interwebs that Gawker Media, who has Gizmodo, Fleshbot (NSFW), Lifehacker among their stable of websites got their database of usernames hacked:
“This weekend we discovered that Gawker Media’s servers were compromised, resulting in a security breach at Lifehacker, Gizmodo, Gawker, Jezebel, io9, Jalopnik, Kotaku, Deadspin, and Fleshbot,” the media site says.
The result is really bad. According to Forbes, the people behind the hack are now using this information are now using it to break into thousands of Twitter accounts. Let that be a lesson to anyone who uses the same password for multiple things. That’s easy to say, but hard to do (and keep track of). In any case, if you have a logon for Gawker Media, and you share that logon with anything else, you might want to change the password ASAP. Even if you don’t, I’d change the password anyway.
But the story doesn’t end there. This morning, I got this e-mail:
Hi there,
Hint wanted to let you know that your email address and password that you used to signup for Gawker (or one of its sites) were hacked. Forbes’ coverage is here
In situations like this, time is of the essence, which is why we were surprised & shocked to find that Gawker Media hadn’t taken the initiative to notify you of this privacy breach immediately. We HIGHLY recommend you change all of your online passwords as a precaution.
-The Team at Hint
(This is a one time email)
Who the hell is Hint? I’ve never heard of them before today. I figured that it was spam, but some research found that this e-mail might actually be legit.
Sort of.
A bunch of “do gooders” have been sending out these e-meils according to this story to warn Gawker Media users. Even if this is legit, an e-mail like this should have come from Gawker Media and not from some “do gooders” who got these e-mail addresses somehow. It really doesn’t do much to make Gawker Media look like its trying to do the right thing. They really need to get their act together and do more for their users than put up a FAQ.
UPDATE: If you want to find out if your Gawker Media account was hacked, check out this site.
UPDATE x2: I just got this e-mail from Gwaker Media (at 9:00 PM EST on Monday Dec. 13th):
This weekend we discovered that Gawker Media’s servers were compromised, resulting in a security breach at Lifehacker, Gizmodo, Gawker, Jezebel, io9, Jalopnik, Kotaku, Deadspin, and Fleshbot. As a result, the user name and password associated with your comment account were released on the internet. If you’re a commenter on any of our sites, you probably have several questions.
We understand how important trust is on the internet, and we’re deeply sorry for and embarrassed about this breach of security. Right now we are working around the clock to improve security moving forward. We’re also committed to communicating openly and frequently with you to make sure you understand what has happened, how it may or may not affect you, and what we’re doing to fix things.
This is what you should do immediately: Try to change your password in the Gawker Media Commenting System. If you used your Gawker Media password on any other web site, you should change the password on those sites as well, particularly if you used the same username or email with that site. To be safe, however, you should change the password on those accounts whether or not you were using the same username.
We’re continually updating an FAQ (http://lifehac.kr/eUBjVf) with more information and will continue to do so in the coming days and weeks.
Gawker Media
Better late than never I suppose.
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This entry was posted on December 13, 2010 at 12:04 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Gawker, Hacked. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.