By Heather Grossmann
DNAinfo News Editor
MANHATTAN — The FBI is reportedly investigating a hacker attack on Gawker Media websites over the weekend that compromised over 100,000 of their user accounts.
"Our user databases appear to have been compromised. The passwords were encrypted. But simple ones may be vulnerable to a brute-force attack," a message on Gawker read. "You may be angry and upset about what has happened. You have a right to be. We're upset, too, and deeply embarrassed about the breach."
The media properties, which include famously snarky flagship site Gawker.com, celebrity gossip site Jezebel.com, media news site Deadspin.com and consumer electronics stie Gizmodo.com were attacked over the weekend by a group called Gnosis, according to the New York Post.
The attack halted Gawker's ability to publish and the hackers stole more than 100,000 e-mail addresses and passwords, the paper reported.
The hackers targeted Gawker properties because of their "arrogance," according to the Post.
The FBI was meeting with Nick Denton, Gawker's founder, as part of their investigation, the paper said.
Gawker told its users to change their passwords and in a plea to retain them, wrote, "Comments are the lifeblood of our sites, and we pride ourselves on having some of the best commenters anywhere on the internet. Your security is our primary concern right now."
Reactions to the breach were mixed on Gawker's site on Monday.
"Way to handle this, Gawker. You secured your comments and f***ed our stored passwords. Go you," wrote user stew.
But other users were more understanding.
"Thank you to everyone, especially the commenters here and on Gizmodo, for all the attempts to inform users and to remedy the situation," wrote user erin the peasantress.