Gawker Media’s Servers Compromised – Password Changes Recommended

Marla Shaivitz December 13, 2010 Tweet

In a post on its website on Sunday, Gawker Media announced that its servers had been compromised – a security breach that affects information such as usernames and passwords stored in its database.

The company says that password data was encrypted, however simple passwords “may be vulnerable to a brute-force attack” and is recommending that users change passwords on other sites if they are the same.

“We’re deeply embarrassed by this breach,” the posting on gawker.com said. “We should not be in the position of relying on the goodwill of the hackers who identified the weakness in our systems.”

The post continues, “And, yes, the irony is not lost on us.”

In addition to Gawker.com Gawker Media includes sites such as Gizmodo, Jalopnik, Jezebel, Kotaku, Lifehacker, Deadspin, io9, and Fleshbot. All sites combined, this security breach affects millions.

Those who sign into the sites using Facebook Connect are unaffected.