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Twitter-Based Phishing Scam Raises Alarms
SecurityProNews
Staff Writer
2009-01-05
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It was only a matter of time before hackers targeted the increasingly popular Twitter microblogging platform. Over the weekend, phishers sent out direct messages appearing to be from Tweeters, but were really password gathering decoys.
 | | Twitter-Based Phishing Scam Raises Alarms |  |
A pair of emails hit your humble author's inbox, purporting to be from The Redding Brothers, apparently a local rock band. The emails came with invitations to follow a link and messages that read:
hey! check out this funny blog about you...
http://jannawalitax.blogspot.com/ and
Hey, i found a website with your pic on it... LOL check it out here http://twitterblog.access-logins.com/login Fortunately, over the years I've become distrustful of Internet strangers in my inbox, especially when they offer links to unknown places, so I didn't fall for the trick.
Twitter founder Biz Stone posted a message at the Twitter blog Saturday, the day direct-messages started making the rounds, to warn users of the scheme. One of the links, the one with the URL twitterblog.access-logins.com/login, leads to a Twitter-spoof page asking for user login information.
"Some folks may have clicked the link and given their Twitter password to the phishing site," writes Stone. "In those cases it would be possible for the phisher to send out direct messages on your behalf which could trick your followers. In those cases, we proactively reset the passwords of the accounts."
Sure enough, when I looked closer at the Redding Brothers' Twitter account, they list me as one they follow and warn, about an hour and a half after I received the supposed direct message, that their account had been hijacked.
VentureBeat reports a similar Twitter-user targeted scam involving the chance to win a free iPhone.
It's unclear what the folks at Twitter will be able to do about the matter and it seems likely Twitter could become a target of future phishing schemes. Cofounder Evan Williams assured the team was working on it, and today's tweet reflects that sentiment:
Mood at Twitter HQ the first work day of the year: Focused anxiety.
About the Author:
SecurityProNews is a daily online and email publication focusing on internet security issues.
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