Hackers have broken into a Fox.com extranet site, designed as a repository of research statistics, programming details and ratings for clients and affiliates, and stolen the emails and passwords for hundreds of Fox Broadcasting employees.



The group, which calls itself Lulz Security, then used that information to alter the LinkedIn accounts of more than a dozen Fox sales employees, tweeting each one on its @LulzSec twitter account. It also posted the trove online, saying, ‘We invite the Internet to ravage the following list of emails and passwords (from a database within Fox.com) - Facebook, MySpace, PayPal, whatever you can get your hands on. Take from them everything. Remember to proxy up, or tunnel like a pro!”

The security breach apparently took place more than a week ago, as Fox Broadcasting alerted its users on April 29th that it had been hacked and urged them to change their passwords.

Last week, the hacker group published personal information for thousands of contestants on Fox’s “X Factor.” Fox told contestants that it was working with federal authorities.

I’ve reached out to Fox for comment and will update when I hear back.

UPDATE: A Fox Broadcasting spokeswoman offers an official comment: "About two weeks ago, we learned that computer hackers illegally accessed fox.com and obtained a database file that contained usernames and passwords used to access a Fox extranet site. We took immediate steps to stop the illegal intrusion, have notified all users who were affected and are working with law enforcement."