Twitter - Once Again Rocked by Cyber Attack

While there were continuous reports filtering in from the security experts that spammers, hackers and distributors of malware are exploiting the immense public interest in the security problems related to Twitter and are increasing circulating malware, a new scam has reportedly targeted Twitter on April 20, 2009. Users of this micro-blogging site are being scammed by a phishing site TheSmartEcard.com.

Users' Twitter feeds are containing the messages and links, from the phishing site, such as "Retweet: You'll love this one! Check out www.TheSmartEcard.com" or "You'll like this one! Check out www.TheSmartEcard.com". These messages forward the users to the phishing website "TheSmartEcard.com".

Senior Technology Consultant at Sophos, Graham Cluley, cautioned users of clicking the given links and said that the opening page of the site "terms and conditions" must be fair enough so as to indicate the users that something strange is happening, before it starts asking users their personal details, as per the news published by vnunet.com on April 20, 2009.

Moreover, immediately after Twitter abandoned 'TheSmartEcard.com', the site also cautioned users of visiting 'Twaniac.com', suspecting that it is also a phishing website engaged in malevolent activities. It is also asserted that the latter site is being run by the same group of criminals who are supposed to be behind 'TheSmartEcard.com".

Meanwhile, as a precautionary step, Twitter has suspended the accounts of few Twitter users who inadvertently visited the aforementioned phishing sites. Twitter has requested such users for filing a help ticket that will lead to the restoration of their accounts.

Besides, Twitter has also been reported of suffering from a new version of Mikeyy worm. The worm posted news related to celebrities on the users' feeds in the third week of April 2009. It reported about the appearance of Evan Williams, Co-Founder of Twitter, on the popular talk show hosted by Oprah Winfrey.

According to Sophos, this latest happenings have raised questions about the credibility of Twitter. Cluley noted that Twitter has once again looked unprofessional as its security systems proved insufficient to evade such cross-site scripting attacks, as reported by PCMAG.COM on April 20, 2009.

However, Twitter officials defended the site by stating that all malicious/phishing attacks were short lived and were addressed in the most appropriate way.

Related article: Twitter Flaw Compels Victims to Follow Hacker’s Account

» SPAMfighter News - 4/28/2009