Here’s a tool to discover whether your username or e-mail was hacked in the recent attack on Gawker Media and its manifold sites. If like me you downloaded the list of compromised usernames, you found they were all “hashed,” and no explanation of how to translate your username or e-mail into the code used in the document was given. This tool at GawkerCheck converts your comprehensible terms into “hash” and then provides a list for you to search.
Here’s another tool from Slate that’s easier to use. If you want to test more than one username or e-mail, reload the page between attempts.
By now you probably realize that Gawker itself was not the only hacked site. Others include
• Gizmodo
• Jalopnik
• Jezebel
• Kotaku
• Lifehacker
• Deadspin
• io9
• Fleshbot
This morning (Monday) Consumerist reported that when the site went over to Consumer Reports, subscribers were asked to change their passwords. Some people, however, neglected to do so; if you were among them, your data might be compromised.
GawkerCheck claims that, contrary to some reports, if you signed in to any of these sites through Twitter or Facebook, some of your information may appear in the hacked database; while your password will not have slipped through, you still could be at some risk. Might want to consider setting up a dummy e-mail address or two by way of shifting your identity.
If you’re in the habit of using one or two passwords at several sites, it would be wise to change them forthwith. Start with anything even faintly resembling a financial institution and then move on to your e-mail and websites. GawkerCheck advises not changing your password on the Gawker sites.
As of this morning, I couldn’t access the password-change function at Consumerist. If I ever had one at Lifehacker, I sure can’t remember what it was. Probably is outdated by now, if it ever existed. Obviously, though, if the information vandals are still able to hack into the databases, changing your password there would be highly counterproductive.