Dear Readers,

We regret to inform you that late last night or early this morning, The Gator was hacked by an unknown outside party. Several blank stories were posted with offensive and discriminatory headlines, which have since been deleted. The newsroom has been in touch with WordPress, which powers our site and oversees our security settings and protection.

While this is an unfortunate incident, it’s also important to note that after communicating with WordPress, the newsroom is certain that this hack came from somebody outside of the community. Furthermore, WordPress is working to enhance our security settings. In the meantime, we have uploaded a new two-factor authentication system to deter future hacking. We retain full confidence in WordPress, which also powers some of our nation’s most reputable national newspapers, including The New York Times.

Once more, we apologize for any offense that the hacker may have caused. Please know that we take our digital security extremely seriously, and we will inform our readers of updates.

Sincerely,

The Gator Editorial Board