Tuesday, July 19, 2011

How My Account Got Hacked at Twitter And How I Could Have Stopped It

I got a prive message at Twitter from HolySlushPile asking, "Is this true about you?"  followed by a link.

My first thoughts were, "It must be a link to SlushPileReader because I just got published by them and since they are HolySlushPile, they wanted to see if I was the same guy."

So I clicked on the link and it brought me to the sign-in page of Twitter.  Hmm?  How did that happen?  Foolishly, I typed in my password, went back to the message, and tried again.

Same thing.  Sign-in page of Twitter.  I tried again.  This time it said, "Page Does Not Exist."

Then I see that HolySlushPile sends me another message - this one saying he had been hacked.

And then I saw that I was sending everyone who follows me messages, "You can make 3,000 to 8,000 a day - guaranteed," followed by a link.

My hunch: if you clicked on that link, it'd send you to the sign-in page at Twitter.  If you were like me and signed in, you too would be hacked.

I have since changed my password and hope that takes care of it.  I learned a lesson.  Don't click on to links sent as messages that are curious.  And if it brings me to the Twitter sign in page, I won't enter my password next time.

2 comments:

  1. When i saw the DM in twitter i sensed hacking and sent you a message. Take care next time you'll be receiving a message about freelance works. One thing i do is to click the link report spam. In twitter there are so many hackers. Enjoy twitting.

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  2. That’s right. When clicking links that bring you to the sign in page, it would be the time to be suspicious. It’s actually worse if you’re using a public computer `cause that’s where identity thefts usually happen. Anyway, at least you got it sorted out.

    Regards,
    Annie

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