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Hackers claim 8,600 accounts infected in Tumblr compromise (update: Tumblr responds)

Hackers claim 8,600 accounts infected in Tumblr compromise (update: Tumblr responds)

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GNAA Tumblr Hack
GNAA Tumblr Hack

A growing number of Tumblr blogs have been hacked by notorious troll group GNAA or the Gay Nigger Association of America, perhaps best known for its association with the recently convicted Andrew Auernheimer or "weev." The GNAA Twitter account says that 8,600 unique users have had their accounts compromised and blogs defaced. While we can't verify that number now, the compromise is visible on several personal blogs, as well as those for Reuters, The Verge, and others. The infected sites now display an exhortation for users to commit suicide, and visiting while logged in will spread the worm to your own blogs. We've contacted Tumblr for comment; for now, it's best to stay away from Tumblr if you've got an account that could be infected.

Update: Tumblr has responded with the following statement:

There is a viral post circulating on Tumblr which begins "Dearest 'Tumblr' users". If you have viewed this post, please log out of all browsers that may be using Tumblr immediately. Our engineers are working to resolve the issue as swiftly as possible. Thank you.

Further Update: Gawker's Adrian Chen has posted a short interview with a GNAA spokesperson, who claims that the group "contacted Tumblr about [the vulnerability] weeks ago and nothing came of it." As Chen says, of course, there's reason to be at least a little skeptical of the group's responses.

Resolution: Tumblr has posted again, saying that the problem has been resolved. The blogs mentioned above, including our own, have been restored to their original state.