Twitter And Security - Concerns About Account Hijacks

Published on Saturday, 4 July 2009

A recent Web Pro News article spoke to a security expert Amit Klein about Twitter's recent woes - the account hijacking of celebrities and other high profile users.

Talking about Twitter and security, Amit said:

"Typically, criminals hijack Twitter accounts to spread malware. They abuse hijacked accounts to send message to 'followers', including links to sites that serves malware or spyware.

In the Guy Kawasaki incident, for example (not a classic account hijacking), of the 139,000 followers, it is estimated that many hundreds became infected.

While the media covers only the high profile attacks (e.g. celebrities and politicians), attacks against more average accounts are also taking place - quite possibly via mass production utilities.

People can take several actions to protect their Twitter presence:

Protect their twitter credentials - users need to be vigilant and keep on the look out for Twitter phishing attacks.  Also, control and protect their twitter information. As tempting and convenient as it may be, using 3rd party applications and services that enhance Twitter may increase the exposure of users to abuse. Every website which is allowed to automatically post to a user's Twitter account adds attack surface that criminals may exploit. "

WebFertile recommend this list of Twitter security advice:
http://www.twitip.com/twitter-security-dos-and-donts/ 

The President Vs. Britney

This year, the accounts of 33 celbs have been hijacked.  These included Barack Obama with1.6 million followers and Britney with over 2 million.

 

 

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