Anonymous Hackers Attacked Twitter
From the Reuters news report, anonymous hackers attacked Twitter last week and may have gained access to passwords and other information for as many as 250,000 user accounts, the official microblog revealed it on Friday and explained "limited" data was accessed, like email addresses and encrypted passwords. The attack is made from a latest Java hole.
"This attack was not the work of amateurs, and we do not believe it was an isolated incident," Twitter said. "The attackers were extremely sophisticated, and we believe other companies and organizations have also been recently similarly attacked."
Twitter said in a blog post that the passwords were encrypted and that it had already reset them as a "precautionary measure," and that it was in the process of notifying affected users. "There is no evidence right now that would indicate that passwords were compromised," said Prosser.
The blog post noted recent revelations of large-scale cyber attacks against the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, but unlike the two news organizations, Twitter did not provide any detail on the origin or methodology of the attacks.
Privately held Twitter, which has 200 million active monthly users, said it was working with government and federal law enforcement officials to track down the attackers.
Twitter, the social network known for its 140-character messages, could not speculate on the origin of the attacks as its investigation was ongoing, said spokesman Jim Prosser.
The attack is not the first time that hackers have breached Twitter's systems and gained access to Twitter user information. Twitter signed a consent decree with the Federal Trade Commission(FTC) in 2010, subjecting the company to 10 years of independent privacy reviews, for failing to safeguard users' personal information.