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Twitter: the dangers of social networks

  •  5 January 2009
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TWITTER is the latest microblogging site subjected to hacking and phishing attacks.

The site, which allows members to post short messages to those in their social circle, had 33 member accounts hijacked.

Victims included Britney Spears, US President-elect Barack Obama and CNN correspondent Rick Sanchez. Hackers posted a lewd comment under Spears’ name referring to her anatomy, sent out a survey with a gas card prize from Obama and wrote "I’m high on crack and might not be coming into work today" for Sanchez.

Twitter said the hacker was able to access the tools the Twitter support team uses when Twitters forget their password.

Twitter users were also targeted last week in a scam involving fake emails which directed users to fake Twitter sites where they were asked to enter their user name and password.

Hijacked accounts are then used to spread links to web pages that install malware on computers, turning them into bots which can be controlled by cyber criminals.

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