Earlier today, Nvidia announced its developer forums were hacked this week and that the following user information was compromised by unauthorized third parties: usernames, e-mail addresses, hashed passwords with random salt value, and public-facing "About Me" profile information. The semiconductor maker has now confirmed that up to 400,000 of its user accounts were swiped by the hackers.

As a result, Nvidia has suspended five of its websites as it investigates the matter. A spokesperson told CBS News that despite the passwords in question were "scrambled using an encryption algorithm."

The accounts in question belonged to users of the Nvidia Forum, Developer Zone, and Research Site. The company has suspended all three, and to be on the safe side, its Nvidia Board Store, through which users can buy company products, and the Nvidia Gear Store, where the company sells company merchandise.

Nvidia said it has contacted affected users. I will update you if I hear more about the company's findings in regards to the attack.

The Nvidia hack is a part of a slew of attacks in the last few months. Here's a quick list, in no particular order: LinkedIn, eHarmony, Last.fm, Yahoo , Android Forums , Billabong , and Formspring . The total number of users affected is around 10 million, so far.

If you have an account with any of these sites, you should change your password, just to be on the safe side. Furthermore, if you use the same e-mail address and password combination elsewhere, you should change it there as well.

See also: