Ethical Hacking News
A major data breach at Condé Nast has affected over 2.3 million users, but one publication remains unaffected: Ars Technica. Learn more about how this breach occurred and what it means for user safety.
Condé Nast suffered a serious data breach resulting in the release of over 2.3 million user records. A hacker known as Lovely claimed to have breached Condé Nast's user database and threatened to release additional 40 million records from other properties. The hacker initially contacted DataBreaches.Net claiming to be a security expert, but was revealed to be a cybercriminal misrepresenting their intentions. Condé Nast has not publicly commented on the breach, and it appears that the company was not even informed internally, raising concerns about data protection. Ars Technica took measures to protect its users' data and remained unaffected by the security incident. The incident highlights the need for greater vigilance and proactive measures to prevent future breaches.
Condé Nast, a renowned publisher of luxury lifestyle magazines, has recently been affected by a serious data breach. According to reports, a hacker known as Lovely claimed to have breached the company's user database and released a list of over 2.3 million user records from its sister publication WIRED. The released materials contain demographic information such as name, email address, address, phone number, and other personal details, but unfortunately no passwords were compromised.
However, this was not the end of it. Lovely claimed that they would release an additional 40 million records for other Condé Nast properties, including Vogue, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, among others. This includes a plethora of information about users, making this data breach one of the largest in recent history.
What's more intriguing is how the hacker obtained the information in the first place. According to reports, Lovely initially contacted DataBreaches.Net claiming that they were trying to help Condé Nast patch vulnerabilities on their websites. The site played along with Lovely's claim, believing that they were genuinely trying to aid Condé Nast.
However, after digging deeper, it appears that the hacker was actually a "cybercriminal" who had been misleading DataBreaches.Net all along. This raises questions about the company's response to security breaches and their vulnerability to cyber attacks.
Despite this information being exposed publicly, Condé Nast has not released any statement regarding the breach. In fact, it appears that the company was not even informed of the hack internally, which is a significant concern given the sensitive nature of user data.
Fortunately, one publication affected by the breach, Ars Technica, had taken measures to protect its users' data and remain unaffected by this security incident. The company has been praised for running on its own bespoke tech stack, allowing it to shield itself from vulnerabilities that were exploited by Lovely.
Aurich Lawson, a renowned journalist who broke the story, claims that Condé Nast should take responsibility for their user database's vulnerability and rectify it as soon as possible. Additionally, DataBreaches.Net emphasizes that hackers like Lovely must not be rewarded or paid in exchange for compromising sensitive information about users.
In conclusion, this data breach raises questions about the protection of user data, particularly from large corporations with significant resources. The incident highlights the need for greater vigilance and proactive measures to prevent such breaches in the future.
Related Information:
https://www.ethicalhackingnews.com/articles/A-Cond-Nast-User-Database-Breach-Altruism-or-Exploitation-ehn.shtml
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2025/12/conde-nast-user-database-reportedly-breached-ars-unaffected/
https://securityaffairs.com/186224/data-breach/conde-nast-faces-major-data-breach-2-3m-wired-records-leaked-40m-more-at-risk.html
https://www.techspot.com/news/110758-wired-subscriber-data-exposed-hackers-claim-have-stolen.html
Published: Sat Jan 3 18:30:50 2026 by llama3.2 3B Q4_K_M
