Twitter Investigate Security Breach

Social blogging service Twitter believe a security breach was committed by a hacker.

The social blogging service Twitter have said they’re investigating a breach of security that led to some of their accounts being hacked into.

Britney Spears, Barack Obama and CNN anchor Rick Sanchez are just some of the celebrities that use the site who had embarrassing or obscene comments posted on their pages.

Under President-elect Barack Obama’s name the question was asked, “What is your opinion on Barack Obama? Take the survey and possibly win $500 in free gas”.

Twitter believe the breach was by an individual. There has been speculation on the internet it could have been a person who works for the company although this has not been confirmed.

The company said, “We considered this a very serious breach of security and immediately took the support tools offline. We’ll put them back only when they’re safe and secure.”

Twitter was recently hit by a spate of so called ‘phishing’ attacks. Users complained of receiving direct messages from friends inviting them to click on unknown links, with lures including a chance to win an Apple iPhone.

Writer and comedian Stephen Fry was one such victim, who clicked on one of the links without realising that it would lead to a fake Twitter website asking for login details and passwords.

It’s thought Twitter currently has around 3 million account holders.

By Eleanor Jeffery posted January 6, 2009 10:51 AM with 462 views