John
05-02-2009, 10:26 AM
A French hacker is taking credit for a recent high-profile attack on microblogging site Twitter.
Going by the alias 'Hacker Croll,' the hacker posted a series of screenshots to prove that he had gained access to the site's administrative controls. The hacker allegedly gained access to the controls by hacking into the account of Twitter's director of product management.
While Twitter did not verify the specific claims made by Hacker Croll, the company did admit to suffering a breach.
Founder Biz Stone said that no information was altered, though personal details for at least 10 profiles may have been viewed by the hacker. The compromised accounts were said to include those of Ashton Kutcher and Lily Allen.
"Our initial security reviews and investigations indicate that no account information was altered or removed in any way. However, we discovered that 10 individual accounts were viewed during this unauthorized access," Stone wrote.
"We have personally contacted Twitter users whose accounts were compromised via this unauthorized access."
The breach is the latest in what has been a growing list of security woes for Twitter. In recent weeks the site has fallen prey to rashes of spammers as well as a high-profile exploit launched from a rival site developer.
Going by the alias 'Hacker Croll,' the hacker posted a series of screenshots to prove that he had gained access to the site's administrative controls. The hacker allegedly gained access to the controls by hacking into the account of Twitter's director of product management.
While Twitter did not verify the specific claims made by Hacker Croll, the company did admit to suffering a breach.
Founder Biz Stone said that no information was altered, though personal details for at least 10 profiles may have been viewed by the hacker. The compromised accounts were said to include those of Ashton Kutcher and Lily Allen.
"Our initial security reviews and investigations indicate that no account information was altered or removed in any way. However, we discovered that 10 individual accounts were viewed during this unauthorized access," Stone wrote.
"We have personally contacted Twitter users whose accounts were compromised via this unauthorized access."
The breach is the latest in what has been a growing list of security woes for Twitter. In recent weeks the site has fallen prey to rashes of spammers as well as a high-profile exploit launched from a rival site developer.