Gawker Media hack about as bad as it could possibly be

It seems Gawker writers may have poked the hornet’s nest a few too many times this year, as a group of shadowy internet pranksters have cracked the fuck out of all of Gawker Media’s web properties to retaliate for the snarky blog’s “arrogance.”

Do you use a “life password” and comment on the Gawker site? It seems many Gawker slash Twitter users may have, resulting in a flood of spam posts about Acai berries so prolific, it was originally thought to be a worm that was “spreading like wildfire.” The group taking responsibility for the hack hasn’t officially said any of Gawker’s 4chan baiting posts were the catalyst, but Gawker hasn’t been shy with the number of insults levied at the notorious imageboard.

So what do you need to know about the massive Gawker hack?

Signs of a breach were there, but no one noticed it for what it was and Gawker peeps wrote it off right away. Says TNW:

Back in November, (Nick) 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.

Gawker says Twitter accounts weren’t compromised, but the influx of cross-user spam suggests otherwise. Whether you used the same password or something else was afoot, check your Twitter account for unauthorized tweets, and consider changing your password just in case.

This is probably like the herpes of database breaches. Information that’s been made available reveals a still-shockingly weak number of passwords used for the site, thousands of which were the word “password.” While your Gawker commenting account getting hacked isn’t the be all and end all of internet embarrassments, many of the users affected by the breach probably use the same password/email combo across the web.

This particular hack will probably keep on giving long after it’s no longer newsworthy. Furthermore, many of the hacked and posted accounts were linked to federal work email addresses, NASA, large banks and other massive entities where we can only hope those using them practice a modicum of password diversification.

Well, I’m sick of this bullshit, how can I delete my Gawker commenter account? Not currently an option, so if you’re among those who have been affected by the breach, tough titties, sayeth Gawker.

Also, Gawker writers thought the idea of 4chan or a similar entity coming after them was pretty funny. Gnosis, the group who say they carried out the attack, released a chat log among Gawker writers where they expressed a desire for 4chan to “bring it on.” It would appear, in fact, it has already been brought:

rian M

The headeline of your post should be “Suck on This, 4Chan”

Maureen O.
I like the call to make today Everybody Write About 4chan Day

Hamilton N.
Nick Denton Says Bring It On 4Chan, Right to My Home Address (After The Jump)

Ryan T.
We Are Not Scared of 4chan Here at 210 Elizabeth St NY NY 10012

Richard L.
don’t forget Fourth Floor

Ryan T.
Right! And Brian’s headcut illustration

Ryan T.
As the lead image

Brian M.
Oh, 4Chan does not want to mess with me once I wind my neck up at them

Brian M.
#giirrrrrrlllllllll

Maureen O.
hey guess what, 4chan has already declared gawker the winner of the 4chan war! we won!

Richard L.
VICTORY

Richard L.
what’d they say?

Jim N.
USA! USA!

Richard L.
MR. OBAMA, TEAR DOWN THAT MOSQUE!

Maureen O.
they say that this day will go down in history as the day 4chan failed.

Richard L.
that’s terrific.

Also? Hamilton Nolan and Richard Lawson called commenters “peasants” as news of the breach began spreading yesterday. Pic above, but the attitude displayed in the chat (“oh, well. unimportant.”) has not garnered Gawker any sympathy since the incident became public knowledge.

One last thing? Fleshbot was part of the data dump, so that should be interesting.