Celeb's Twitter Account Hacked - Used to Distribute Malware

howard@syncrony.com — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:16:00 GMT

The Twitter account of marketing guru Guy Kawasaki was hacked by adding a link to a sex site for a video download.

The Twitter system then kicked in to push the link to some 1000,000 plus Twitter users.

Users who followed the link would eventually get a message offering to update their video codec. The download contains the malware.

The important lesson is that Twitter's immense popularity was bound ot lead to attacks like this. Thus we need to be alert to:

not fall for these kind of lures
be aware of how important our own security is when we use a service like Twitter (using a good password is a good start)

Imagine

Can you imagine the damage a hacker could create by sending Tweets that supposedly come from some celeb. The hacker could for example make a shocking statement that would seemingly come from the mouth of the celeb. The fake Tweet would be immediately picked up by the celeb's followers. Imagine the PR effort it would require for the denials alone!

Thus we need to find out how Kawasaki's account was hacked.

If it was from some slack handling of his account and password it would be understandable. However there are other possible mechanisms that would point to possible weaknesses in the way Twitter operates.

Until the reason becomes clear - make sure you follow good security practices when setting up and using your Twitter service.

Howard Rybko

Twitter & Social Networking to be Added to XBOX Live

howard@syncrony.com — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 05:20:00 GMT

The growth of social networking proceeds! Now Microsoft has elected to add social networking functionality to its popular XBOX Live community platform.

Microsoft announced at E3 currently underway on Loas Angeles USA, that the new services will allow their Xbox Live users to keep communicate with their friends using services such as FaceBook, Twitter and similar services.

This move will further expand the reach of social networking services to include gamers with consoles.

Syncrony Blogs-Category-Social Networking

Celeb's Twitter Account Hacked - Used to Distribute Malware

Twitter & Social Networking to be Added to XBOX Live