Twitter Accounts Hacked: Obama, Britney and Fox News Affected

A number of big name Twitter accounts were hacked this morning, a day after Twitter users were targeted in a large-scale phishing attack. In all, 33 accounts were briefly commandeered by a person or persons who got their hands on editing tools used by Twitter's support team

A number of big name Twitter accounts were hacked this morning, a day after Twitter users were targeted in a large-scale phishing attack.

In all, 33 accounts were briefly commandeered by a person or persons who got their hands on editing tools used by Twitter’s support team. Among the victims were some of the best-known Twitterers, including Barack Obama, CNN’s Rick Sanchez and Britney Spears. The Obama hijackers, who had control of the Prez-Elect’s account for just a few minutes, took the opportunity to post an affiliate link to a page with a survey and promotion. With several others, the hackers’ intent was merely malicious. I’ve borrowed the below screen grabs from Brent Csutoras.

barackhackededit.jpgfoxtwitteredit.jpg

britneytwitteredit.jpgsancheztwitteredit.jpg

According to Twitter the hacked accounts were unrelated to a phishing attack that happened over the weekend. That incident was a straightforward scam that used e-mails presenting themselves as Twitter direct messages to get users to divulge password information.

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