The FBI is looking into the recent hack of Gawker Media
that exposed password information and e-mail addresses belonging
to users, according to reports.
A group known as “Gnosis” has taken credit for the attack, and put
the data it swiped into a file that was initially available via The Pirate Bay.
Rumors of the hack began to circulate Dec. 11, and Gawker confirmed
them with a warning a day later. According to the company, the breach
impacted users of several sites, including users of Gizmodo, Gawker and
Deadspin. In addition, the attackers made off with user names and
passwords for Gawker’s staff, as well as Gawker’s source code and chat
logs of discussions between employees.
The password information was encrypted, but was still vulnerable to being cracked — a fact underscored by the subsequent compromise of Twitter accounts belonging
to some users. Many of those passwords were simplistic — an analysis by
Duo Security found the most common passwords were “123456″ and “password.”
For more, read the eWeek article: FBI Investigating Gawker Hack, Reports.
