As reported earlier last week, NVIDIA has confirmed that the database for its forums web site was broken into by an unauthorized third party. Data from more than 400,000 registered users were affected. The hacker group calling itself "Team Apollo" has now claimed responsibility for the breach which caused NVIDIA to take the site down.

As proof, they have published email addresses and password hashes for approximately 800 users from the database on Pastebin, with more, apparently, to follow. If the data proves to be genuine, NVIDIA's statement that the password hashes were salted would be contradicted: the database excerpt includes the hash b018f55f348b0959333be092ba0b1f41 three times in the list, the result of md5('nvidia123').

The hackers have also claimed that the online store for NVIDIA was also broken into. The hacker group said that the break-in occurred "a few weeks ago". The group apparently copied the data to "target disgusting corporations who deserve to be brought to justice" – although they have not specified which corporations are being targeted or what form this "justice" will take.