Twitter warns users about possible cyber-attack

Photo of author

By Larry Banks

Twitter has alerted some of its users that state-sponsored hackers may have attempted to steal sensitive data from their accounts, in the first warning of its kind by the social media site.

The notice did say that there was no indication the hackers had already obtained the sensitive information from “a small group of accounts” that were targeted. The company also did not provide any further details about the nature of the attack or the possible suspects.

Twitter’s warning comes amid intensifying concern about cyber-attacks from state-sponsored organisations. Recently businesses, media and even government agencies have been the subject of high profile hacks.

Tech news site Motherboard and the Financial Times reported on the Twitter warning earlier. One organisation that had received the notice is a nonprofit called Coldhak based in Winnipeg, who said the warning was received on Friday, in which it said the hackers may be trying to gather email addresses, IP addresses and phone numbers.

Coldhak retweeted similar reports from other users who also received the notice, though they did not provide any clues as to why they were singled out. One of the organisation’s founders, Colin Childs, told Reuters news agency that they had seen “no noticeable impact of this attack”.

Furthermore, Google and Facebook have also issued warnings to users who may have been targeted by state-sponsored attacks.

SOURCE: Reuters.

Images Courtesy of DepositPhotos