Do you know how to hack into a Twitter account? Someone figured it out and posted on Paul Pierce’s account, which set off a media frenzy. An earlier Obama Twitter hack posed questions about the overall micro-blogging site’s users’ ability to secure accounts.
Obama Twitter Hack by Hacker Croll (allegedly)
Agence France-Presse reported in March that a Frenchman is allegedly linked to the Obama Twitter hack, which curiously did not result in strong comments by the White House. It is noteworthy that the supposed hacker is not said to be a particularly gifted computer expert, but instead relied on guesswork to ferret out passwords and answers to security questions.
Paul Pierce: Talking Trash or Hacked?
When the Celtics beat the Magic, Paul Pierce’s Twitter account featured a tweet that read ‘Anybody got a BROOM?‘ Was he trash-talking? The Boston.com site suggests that Paul Pierce fell victim to a hacker who left the taunting message. Some fans are arguing that perhaps Pierce got swept up in the moment and did indeed make the tweet, but thought better of it later on.
This of course highlights the danger of a hack: Twitter account followers do not know if a post is indeed a genuine tweet or a prank. More far-reaching is the effect on posterity; since the Library of Congress acquired the Twitter archive, it is anyone’s guess how many fake tweets are contained therein and now cloud the archive’s authenticity.
When Someone Knows How to Hack Into a Twitter Account…
Twitter alerts micro bloggers to keep an eye out for surprising tweets originating from their accounts. The same holds true for direct messages that the account owner does not remember sending. A telltale sign that a Twitter account may have been compromised is a blogger’s inability to log in, even though the user did not reset the log-in access.
If you suspect that someone has found out how to hack into a Twitter account belonging to you or your business, it is imperative to access the account – if possible – and reset the password. Revoke third-party connections and only re-establish those from trusted applications. This points to two signs of vulnerability on the micro blogging site: third party apps and user-controlled passwords.
The alleged Obama Twitter hack perpetrator exemplifies the hacker who merely guesses his way around. The average Twitter account user is likely to not expend a great deal of time and effort on security and likely has passwords that are similar when logging into third-party applications. Learning how to hack Twitter account holders (such as these) is therefore not a big challenge to the average ne’er-do-well.
Sources
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ih6sNjp-rSolFFTgPrdvxSZuUPRA
http://www.boston.com/sports/columnists/wilbur/2010/05/tweeting_to_the.html
http://help.twitter.com/forums/10713/entries/31796
