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"Updates at foot of post.\r\n\r\nWorried your data has been compromised? Click here to check if you are part of the Gawker data breach.\r\n\r\nGawker Media is under\u00A0siege\u00A0at the moment, fighting off attacks from a group of attackers that have been able to compromise the entire database of Gawker Media's web properties.\r\n\r\nSensitive information has been exposed, including staff conversations, their private passwords used within the network and passwords also used by people who have registered to comment.\r\n\r\nAll of the above information has been outputted by Gnosis, a group who wanted to seemingly put Gawker back in its place, creating a 500MB torrent file, currently residing on the popular torrent tracker ThePirateBay.\r\n\r\nInside the torrent file lies a file entitled Readme.txt. This file is potentially the most sensitive of them all, for it holds the usernames and passwords used by the entire Gawker staff, focusing particularly on Gawker's founder Nick Denton.\r\n\r\nThe usernames and passwords to Denton's Google Apps, Twitter, Campfire accounts are all listed; Denton uses the same password for them all:\r\n\r\n\r\nThe attackers then go on to list a number of different usernames and passwords of Gawker authors, commenting only to mention the ease of which they are revealed:\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nGawker Media uses Campfire as their backchannel to discuss site operations and potential stories. The attackers managed to unearth 4GB of data from the Campfire logs, unveiling seven FTP usernames and passwords setup by a number of different gaming companies:\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nDetails are provided on how to access Gawker's gaming website Kotaku,\u00A0referencing\u00A0the FTP server, username and password and the processes associated with how to access its server and data stored on it.\r\n\r\nBack in November, Denton was told by a co-worker that he was spotted logged in to the Campfire backend, this was not him. Instead of safeguarding his credentials, Denton is convinced by other staff members that it was his own fault and doesn't change his passwords, something he may later regret.\r\n\r\nThen it gets even more interesting.\r\n\r\nWe speculated that the Gawker attacks could be associated with a previous feud between Gawker and 4Chan, where Ryan Tate and other Gawker staff called out 4Chan\u00A0publicly\u00A0on the site. This is confirmed when the attackers post up staff conversations relating to the feud, laughing off 4Chan's so-called attacks and discussing ways they can antagonise 4Chan users even further.\r\n\r\nIt reads as follows:\r\nrian M\r\n\r\nThe headeline of your post should be &amp;quot;Suck on This, 4Chan&amp;quot;\r\n\r\n Maureen O.\r\nI like the call to make today Everybody Write About 4chan Day\r\n\r\n Hamilton N.\r\nNick Denton Says Bring It On 4Chan, Right to My Home Address (After The Jump)\r\n\r\n Ryan T.\r\nWe Are Not Scared of 4chan Here at 210 Elizabeth St NY NY 10012\r\n\r\n Richard L.\r\ndon't forget Fourth Floor\r\n\r\n Ryan T.\r\nRight! And Brian's headcut illustration\r\n\r\n Ryan T.\r\nAs the lead image\r\n\r\n Brian M.\r\nOh, 4Chan does not want to mess with me once I wind my neck up at them\r\n\r\n Brian M.\r\n#giirrrrrrlllllllll\r\n\r\n Maureen O.\r\nhey guess what, 4chan has already declared gawker the winner of the 4chan war! we won!\r\n\r\n Richard L.\r\nVICTORY\r\n\r\n Richard L.\r\nwhat'd they say?\r\n\r\n Jim N.\r\nUSA! USA!\r\n\r\n Richard L.\r\nMR. OBAMA, TEAR DOWN THAT MOSQUE!\r\n\r\n Maureen O.\r\nthey say that this day will go down in history as the day 4chan failed.\r\n\r\n Richard L.\r\nthat's terrific.\r\nAnd here we are today, a retaliation, so it seems.\r\n\r\nThe rest of the file goes on to list numerous different MySQL databases, security credentials and examples of user accounts compromised in the process. Users that registered on Gizmodo, Lifehacker and Kotaku have found their accounts posted to the file.\r\n\r\nGnosis, the team behind the attacks, pause to show just how many users use &amp;quot;password&amp;quot; in their login details, over 2700 records share the same password at a rough count.\r\n\r\nIt's a clear show of strength on Gnosis' part, who have actually distanced themselves from 4chan in email exchanges between the team and us here at The Next Web.\r\n\r\nWe have been told that there are still things to come and that Gnosis aren't finished yet.\r\n\r\nUPDATE: If you're worried about whether your Gawker user password \u00A0has been compromised or not, the company's Lifehacker blog has published an FAQ on the issue. Essentially, if you logged in to comment on Gawker, Gizmodo, Jalopnik, Jezebel, Kotaku, Lifehacker, Deadspin, io9, or Fleshbot you need to change the password for both your Gawker account and anywhere else you use that password.\r\n\r\nGawker says it is working on an 'Account Delete' tool, which will be available soon. The only exception to all this is if you logged in via Facebook Connect, in which case you'll be safe.\r\n\r\nUpdate 2: Worried that Gawker wasn't \u00A0quick enough to warn its users of the data breach by email, members of the popular Hacker News website have combined to draft an email warning 200,000 Gawker users about the data breach. If you receive this email, it is one off email that is purely designed to warn you about the breach and get you to change your password.\r\n\r\nIf you used Facebook to connect, you should be fine.\r\n\r\nHowever, if you connected your Twitter account to Gawker, it is possible that some\u00A0accounts are tweeting messages containing &amp;quot;Acai Berry&amp;quot; tweets without their consent.\r\n\r\nThe attack, first reported as a \u2018worm\u2019 by\u00A0Mashable, may actually, it appears, be related to this weekend\u2019s\u00A0hacking of Gawker Media\u2019s database. @Delbius, leader of Twitter\u2019s Trust and Safety team\u00A0says: \u201CGot a Gawker acct that shares a PW w/your Twitter acct? Change your Twitter PW. A current attack appears to be due to the Gawker compromise.\u201D\r\n\r\nIf true (and you\u2019d expect Twitter staff to be in a good position to judge such things) it\u2019s likely to have affected anyone with the same password and email address for their Gawker and Twitter accounts. If you fit that bill, we recommend you change passwords on both accounts immediately."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://thenextweb.com/media/2010/12/13/gawker-hackers-release-file-with-ftp-author-reader-usernamespasswords/>