Gawker Media Websites Hacked, Staff and User Passwords Leaked

Gawker Media, the blog powerhouse built by Nick Denton, has been hacked.

After bringing the company’s websites to a standstill Sunday, one or more hackers operating under the name Gnosis released a 500-MB file apparently containing Gawker’s source code, commenter and staff passwords, and internal conversations between the company’s employees.

The e-mail addresses and passwords of hundreds of thousands of Gawker users have been compromised, the hackers said.

It’s the worst security breach in New York-based Gawker’s eight-year history, and a wake-up call to all web publishers. (Click here to access your Wired.com profile if you feel the need to change your password for this website.)

“We’re deeply embarrassed by this breach,” Gawker said in a blog post Sunday afternoon.

The attack included Gawker’s eponymous flagship property, as well as gadget site Gizmodo and the culture site Jezebel. The successful Gawker hack followed a week of escalating attacks in the wake of Wikileaks’s continued release of U.S. State Dept. documents and counter-attacks by hackers associated with a group known as Anonymous, which has staged a pro-Wikileaks campaign called Operation Payback.

Read more: Wired

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