The Ubuntu Forums website is still offline following the recent hack. In the meantime, the hacker – whose Twitter account has been shut down – has published a statement, reassuring everyone that he will not leak the passwords he has stolen.

“You can stop worrying about your passwords. Yes, they were encrypted. Encrypted with the default vBulletin hashing algorithm (md5(md5($pass).$salt),” the hacker Sputn1k_ said.

“Whilst it may not be the strongest, when you're dealing with 1.8m users it would take a very long time to get anywhere with the hashes. You don't have to worry about a DB leak. That isn't how I like to do things.”

He highlights the fact that he doesn’t have any malicious intentions, but warns that the site could have been breached by cybercriminals.

“If I do get into a website, most of the time there's no REAL malicious intentions. Grab the database, leave a message. That's it. I don't like to over-do things,” he noted.

“Might cause some downtime, but what if it WAS the ‘syr14n c3b3r 4rmy’ (not that their brain-dead brains have the power to do anything whatsoever), and they did have malicious intentions, and they did leak the database and use it to their own advantage?”