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BuzzFeed Hacked By OurMine As Group Accuses Site of Publishing 'Fake News' (thedrum.com)

BuzzFeed has become the latest website to be compromised by hackers. A number of stories on the website have been vandalized by hackers in what appears a retaliation for a story that claimed to expose a member of their group. The hacker group, which calls itself OurMine, changed titles of several BuzzFeed posts to note that the website has been hacked. There's another note left by hackers which says "share fake news about us again." From a report: Several stories on BuzzFeed.com have been affected, with The Drum receiving the below message on a link that was meant to contain a news feature. The hackers warned BuzzFeed that it has the media owner's "database," adding: "Next Time it will be public. Don't fuck with OurMine again." The group has claimed responsibility for several high-profile hacks over the past 12 months including security breaches which saw them access the accounts of Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg, Google boss Sundar Pichai and former Twitter head Dick Costolo. Some Twitter users were reporting that hacking outfit's message had appeared on "dozens" of articles on BuzzFeed, but the site appears to have dealt with the cyber attack quite quickly.

27 comments

  1. Buzzfeed? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What the fuck is Buzzfeed? I have never even heard of it until now.

    1. Re:Buzzfeed? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      News? Well was the news actually fake then?

    2. Re:Buzzfeed? by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 5, Funny

      What the fuck is Buzzfeed? I have never even heard of it until now.

      It's kind of like "The Onion" only they don't realize their news is all fake.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    3. Re:Buzzfeed? by JoshuaZ · · Score: 1, Informative

      You mean like this piece by Ben Goldacre about how scientists aren't sharing data https://www.buzzfeed.com/bengoldacre/deworming-trials? Or this article encouraging people to take steps to avoid making more antibiotic resistant bacteria https://www.buzzfeed.com/tomchivers/stop-asking-your-doctor-for-antibiotics? Buzzfeed has a lot of clickbait, but some very good articles on occasion, and they don't have "fake" news. You can argue that a lot of it is obnoxious listicles, but that's a very different claim.

    4. Re:Buzzfeed? by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 2

      At the very least it can be accused of frequently presenting opinion as fact and deals mainly in fluff rather than substantial news.

      It's essentially the news site for 12 year old girls.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    5. Re:Buzzfeed? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It seems like they primarily cover social media, entertainment news and gossip, like Gawker used to. It's no wonder I have never heard of them before now.

    6. Re:Buzzfeed? by hey! · · Score: 1

      Buzzfeed's business model isn't based around posting good content Nor it it based around posting bad content. It's about maximizing click-throughs, which means providing good content to people like you (i.e., smart people) and garbage content for all the idiots (i.e., people not like you) out there on the Internet.

      But of course the cultural value of Buzzfeed is beside the point. Nobody in a free society gets to edit things other people say about them.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    7. Re:Buzzfeed? by AlphaBro · · Score: 1

      Dead on. Fuck BuzzFeed.

    8. Re:Buzzfeed? by sjames · · Score: 1

      So kinda like a more interesting version of CNN and Fox?

    9. Re:Buzzfeed? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And a broken clock is right twice a day.

  2. Seems to have already been fixed. by InfiniteBlaze · · Score: 1

    Though I'm ashamed to say I actively chose to visit BuzzFeed just to check.

    1. Re:Seems to have already been fixed. by mwvdlee · · Score: 2

      It's okay. Just make sure you don't click on or even look at ads, this problem will go away by itself.

      --
      Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
  3. BuzzFeed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Could not have happened to nicer people.

    BuzzFeed is crap.

  4. 10 unbelievable ways to hack a news site... by bigdady92 · · Score: 1

    CLICK FOR MOAR!

    --
    Wheel of Time: Book by Book and Sumview (summary review) Bigdady92 style: http://bigdady92.blogspot.com/
  5. Why that guy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I'm curious why BuzzFeed focused on that guy. There are literally tens of OurMine doxes just on PasteBin, all with different names. The evidence from their report is contextual at best.

  6. OMG! Buzzfeed isn't a bastion of real news? by GrumpySteen · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Right now, the front page of Buzzfeed includes such insightful articles as "23 Study Superstitions That Helped People Pass Exams", "We Know Your Fave 'Mean Girls' Character Based On Your Fave Cheese" and "All 47 Vice Presidents, Ranked by Hotness".

    The only shocking thing here is that the hackers seem to think that people see Buzzfeed as a source of real news.

  7. Wait, what? by DougOtto · · Score: 3, Informative

    So, someone shitposted on buzzfeed and someone else actually noticed?

    Get out.

    --
    Solving Unix problems since 1989...
  8. You won't believe all nine ways I reacted... by squiggleslash · · Score: 5, Funny

    When I first heard Buzzfeed had been hacked, I was all:

    [Gif showing someone turning around and their mouth hanging open]

    I mean, first of all, how would someone hack such a major website?

    [Gif showing clip of Trinity hacking into the power plant using that OpenSSH bug]

    And why? I had all kinds of theories!

    [Gif of Scrooge McDuck bathing in gold coins, throwing them up in the air]

    But then I heard the full story, apparently the hackers thought Buzzfeed was a serious news site!

    [Gif showing someone's mouth open while they shake their heads]

    I mean, like a newspaper!

    [Gif showing newspapers rolling off a press]

    with real news!

    [Gif of man with Trilby and a notepad, standing next to another one with a giant camera, who then takes a picture causing the screen to turn white]

    Only online!

    [Gif of someone's finger browsing through the Uber app]

    With pictures!

    [Picture of an art gallery]

    And I was like: "What a bunch of idiots!"

    [Gif of someone flipping through tabs on their web browser, showing Twitter, Buzzfeed, and Slashdot]

    --
    You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    1. Re:You won't believe all nine ways I reacted... by IgnitusBoyone · · Score: 1

      This man needs props

      --
      Momento Mori
    2. Re: You won't believe all nine ways I reacted... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      {Start Slide Show}

  9. Re:OMG! Buzzfeed isn't a bastion of real news? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the name of the fucking site basically means "click bait", what would you expect?

  10. Pretty sure I know how it was done... by DoofusOfDeath · · Score: 4, Funny

    The hackers found one weird trick that webmasters don't want them to know!

  11. Re:OMG! Buzzfeed isn't a bastion of real news? by Mashiki · · Score: 4, Informative

    The only shocking thing here is that the hackers seem to think that people see Buzzfeed as a source of real news.

    That's because it *is* treated as real news, it's also considered a reliable source on sites like Wikipedia. While political sites with original reporting like Washington Examiner aren't considered reliable.

    --
    Om, nomnomnom...
  12. Re:OMG! Buzzfeed isn't a bastion of real news? by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 2

    >> Right now, the front page of Buzzfeed includes such insightful articles as "23 Study Superstitions That Helped People Pass Exams",

    Have you been to Yahoo News lately? Or the Chicago Sun Times?

    Today, it seems almost all news sites are headed down the pop-culture/listicle/X-weird-tricks toilet.

  13. Unique to Buzzfeed? by Jack9 · · Score: 1

    TechDirt has been posting Fake News for years...er "tech rumors and dirt". Mudslinging with a tech focus is their brand.

    Buzzfeed is more of a stream of whispers sourced by tweets, posts, texts and email. Both site are awful sources of "news", since that's not what they do.

    --

    Often wrong but never in doubt.
    I am Jack9.
    Everyone knows me.
  14. And nothing of value was lost. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Phew...for a minute I thought all that valuable "news" was long gone. Just going to go back to Slashdot and read all that actual "news"...wait who am I kidding, /. is going the same way as all these fluff sites because of all the trolls that have joined over the recent years.

    ~ "Well, don't want to sound like a dick or nothin', but, ah... it says on your [profile] that you're fucked up. Ah, you talk like a fag, and your shit's all retarded. "