News flash: everything on the Internet is hackable

This weekend, Gawker Media had its primary database compromised. In this monstrous breach, not only did 1.5 million users have their privacy breached and email address stolen, but they also had their passwords cracked. In a day and age where the currency of our email address and password -- and thus our identity -- is only superseded by our bank details, it's fair to label the Gawker breach as abominable.

Like all major disasters, though, this hack serves a higher purpose: it's now blatantly clear that you should not trust a website with sensitive details about yourself. There have been other hacks, of course; higher profile hacks (like the TJ Maxx debacle), with millions of credit card and social security numbers vanishing into the ether, causing billions of dollars of damage.

But they pale in comparison to the Gawker hack for one reason: it directly affected a huge swathe of the noisy, foot-stomping and petulant tech blogging minority.

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News flash: everything on the Internet is hackable originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 14 Dec 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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