(27) Twitter warns users they may have been hacked by 'state-sponsored actors'

Link: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/dec/14/twitter-warns-users-hacked-state-sponsored-actors

Summary:

Twitter has warned a number of users that they may have been the target of a state-sponsored attack. The warning begins: “As a precaution, we are alerting you that your Twitter account is one of a small group of accounts that may have been targeted by state-sponsored actors. We believe that these actors (possibly associated with a government) may have been trying to obtain information such as email addresses, IP addresses, and/or phone numbers.” Twitter’s specific warning has sparked criticism from those who received it, however.

Key data/statistical information:

• Social media company emails more than 20 users, warning them they may have been targeted by hackers ‘possibly associated with a government’
• Google’s warnings were introduced in 2012, while Facebook began sending its own in October this year.

What's my view?

It's interesting to see that twitter has included the detail to their users that the hackers could have been associated with a government. Even though we are not sure why they would want to hack people's users accounts, I think it is good that twitter did not leave out the specific detail of who has hacked into people's accounts. It shows that twitter is uncensored and not biased.