Hackers & Phishers Attack Twitter! Part 1

By Christopher John

Have you noticed in the last 2 or 3 weeks that hacking and phishing is on the rise on Twitter. Why do people choose to take part in these unethical and socially looked down upon behaviors/crimes? Well, believe it or not, some may do it for fun and consider it a challenge to themselves. Still others may find it a valid way to boast to fellow hackers.


Finally people in all parts of the world have long shown that when it comes to money, they will do just about anything to have it. That of course includes stealing our information on Twitter to try and improve their bottom lines.


Lately I have been victomized by at least one phishing scheme on Twitter, and I am pretty sure I know how  they did it.


I was sent a message that said someone had said something really bad about me on a blog or in a video ( I can't remember which as I received both) and so I clicked on the link and it sent me back (so I thought) to  my Twitter login page. I was puzzled so I foolishly logged in (even though I was still logged in from before) and I think that's how they got my password.


That's (I found out) a classic phishing scheme. They used someone Else's account to send me a message and placed their link at the bottom. It looked like a legitimate message from one of my fellow Twitterers so I clicked on it thinking I would see the video or bad message they were talking about. Instead it brought me back to what I thought was Twitter, and anxiously thinking I would be able to see the video or message I foolishly logged in. Bam! They got my user name and password.


Another way they can do it is they hack in from after market Twitter enhancing companies like Tweepi. Tweepi allows me to use their free service so unfollow "Tweeps" (as they call them) that I follow but don't follow me back. I grant them application access to my account, and although I don't give them my password  they do have the ability to send tweets from my account. Now if someone hacks into Tweepi they can use my account to send Tweets. This too I believe is a way they sent messages out that looked like they came form me. A simple way to avoid that is to revoke their access right away after you use them.

There are a number of things we can all do to protect ourselves from these individuals. I am going to write a series of blogs on this subject and I hope you will tune in and read them. A "tweet" is actually a micro - blog, so really blogging is how we all communicate on Twitter. We all blog about many different things on Twitter, and I think blogging about helping each other avoid the unscrupulous activities of these individuals is important for all. What do you think?


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