Nvidia: 4 lakh coded passwords may have been hit

London: US semiconductor maker Nvidia Corp. says up to 400,000 users of its forums have had their encrypted passwords compromised in attacks dating back to early July.

It's the latest in a stream of data thefts which has hit major Internet companies over the past few weeks. Search provider Yahoo, networking sites LinkedIn and FormSpring, and dating site eHarmony have all recently reported breaches which collectively compromised the online credentials of millions of users.

Nvidia spokesman Bryan Del Rizzo said Friday that attackers made off with an unknown number of passwords from the Santa Clara, California-based company's forums, which count around 400,000 registered users.

He says that the stolen passwords had been scrambled using an encryption algorithm, a technique which generally makes it harder for hackers to use the compromised information.