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Stolen Passwords Induce Twitter Attack

acai twitter spam search resultsA recent attack on Gawker Media, an online gossip Website, has enabled spammers to infiltrate thousands of Twitter accounts. The security breach, which compromised 1.3 million Gawker user account passwords was carried out on its servers this weekend thus affecting several users of the following media and technology sites run by Gawker Media: Lifehacker, Gizmodo, Gawker, Jezebel, io9, Jalopnik, Kotaku, Deadspin, and Fleshbot. Subsequently, a file containing the hacked passwords from Gawker Media’s servers were then published on 4Chan thus making it possible for spammers to break into thousands of Twitter accounts where users had used the same passwords for both sites.

More recently, a group called “Gnosis” released a 500MB file containing the information taken from Gawker on the file-sharing system Bittorent so that other hackers can download it. As a result, hundreds of thousands of Twitter users have seen their accounts compromised and messages sent promoting drinks made from Acai Berry (“I lost 9lbs using acai! You must try it! RT”). In reaction to the security breach, Gawker Media released the following statement on it’s Website:

“Our user databases appear to have been compromised. The passwords were encrypted. But simple ones may be vulnerable to a brute-force attack. You should change your Gawker password and on any other sites on which you’ve used the same passwords.”

While the exact number of Twitter accounts that were affected remains unknown, security experts are warning that every identity thief, spammer and hacker will be attracted to the password file thus those who have had their Gawker account details published can expect to be targeted. Users can therefore protect themselves by replacing their passwords with strong and complex ones for their different online accounts.

Learn: How to make a strong password here.

Talking Point

Fortunately, the damage caused by the breach is expected to be minimal as Gawker is believed to only store emails, user-names and passwords of its users. However, doesn’t this make you wonder how safe your data is on the Internet?

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6 Comments

6 Comments

  1. Sophia

    December 15, 2010 at 3:56 pm

    My husband was one of those affected. And he doesn’t even remember commenting on any Gawker sites!

  2. John

    December 16, 2010 at 4:24 pm

    Thank God I don’t have any accounts with Gawker Media. However, why in the world would 4Chan and Gnosis publish and release this sensitive information.

    4Chan and Gnosis should be held responsible for their role in this unfortunate situation. It does make you wonder how safe your data is on the internet. Spammers and Hackers are getting a lot smarter and more crafty in how they violate people.

  3. backlinks kaufen

    December 16, 2010 at 6:55 pm

    I read about it. Fortunately I don’t have a Twitter account 😀

  4. preksha

    December 16, 2010 at 8:46 pm

    Thanks for info.I will take care of this

  5. Rakesh

    December 17, 2010 at 5:30 am

    Internet security is really becoming a issue with most of the social networking websites these days, just have a look at facebook, all messed up, filled with a hundred thousand spam apps.

  6. eGrove Systems

    December 20, 2010 at 8:22 am

    Thanks for sharing this valuable information with us.

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