Just how safe are your details after the emails and passwords of around 1.3m registered users were released by Gnosis?What was hacked into?Nine websites owned by New York-based Gawker Media, including the media and technology site Gawker and popular gadget site Gizmodo.What was exposed?The emails and passwords of around 1.3 million registered users – including those of Gawker Media owner Nick Denton and its employees – were accessed and subsequently published online. The group’s publishing system and source code were exposed. All of these details were made available on filesharing sites, BitTorrent and The Pirate Bay.The hackers managed to crack more than a quarter of a million passwords in the Gawker database. Within this group, more than 2,600 used the word “password” or “qwerty” – the first six characters along the top line of English-language keyboards – as their login. One of these users is registered with a government email address, while other accounts trace back to Nasa.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/dec/13/gawker-hackers-security-password-protectAlso see:Gawker hack triggers password resets at major sites
Millions of web users are being asked to reset their passwords as concerns spread over a major hacking attack.Yahoo, Twitter and LinkedIn have asked users to change their details, days after gossip site Gawker was hacked.Online game World of Warcraft, which has more than 12 million subscribers, has also asked some users to reset their passwords.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11998648
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