TechPulse 360

Hackers are now phishing for identities on Twitter

Over the weekend, several phishing attacks were reported using Twitter as their conduit. And this morning, Twitter itself admitted that several accounts, including Barak Obama’s, have been hacked into.

“The Twitter’s phishing attack have changed several times. And now there is one that ask you to click a link embedded in the Twitter message which then takes you to the cybercriminals web sites that are in turn infected with a keystroke logger or other malwares that automatically install in your computer if you’re not protected,” explains Merritt, Symantec’s Internet Safety Advocate.

Although Symantec’s Internet security software will not prevent you from entering a newly created infected web site, it will protect you from downloading embedded malicious code on your computer says Merritt.

Don’t click on the links in your Twitter feed

For Merritt, these new phishing attacks targeting Twitter are just part of this “social engineering” wave where “criminals” are using your trusted friends – a person you follow on Twitter or a Facebook friend – or celebrities to harvest the database of people following you or that you follow which then cause havoc or affect your reputation.

My advice and I know it’s a tough one for avid Twitter users: don’t click on any link coming from your Twitter feed, even if it comes from someone that you know. Or at least, send that person a quick twit back to make sure it’s a legitimate link.
“With Twitter, people are using trunking URL services like Tiny URL. So for the people in the past that have said they could just look at the URL and know if it’s safe or not, now with Twitter there’s no way to do that,” warns Merrit.