Social networking giant Twitter has instructed a group of users to change passwords after a phishing scam has managed to steal the private details of a number of user accounts.
It comes as a recent Sophos security report shows the number of attacks on social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, are on the rise.
Twitter has now blocked a number of accounts of users who have fallen victim to the scam, which is designed to steal log-in information by constructing a fake site or email. The exact number of users affected is said to be small, although it would appear that thousands of accounts could be involved.
The site has sent a number of emails to users who have been affected by the scam, requesting they change their passwords as quickly as possible. While the attack was not necessary aimed at Twitter, the attack has nevertheless affected some of its users.
The site warned users their passwords “may have been compromised in a phishing attack that took place off-Twitter”, and that as a result, “your password was reset”.
Both Twitter and Facebook have been the targets of security attacks and phishing campaigns for some time. Last year the site went into damage control after an internet user managed to infiltrate its own networks and obtain private documents.
The site has also been criticised for being taken down by a number of denial-of-service attacks over the past year.
But Graham Clueley, senior technology consultant for Sophos, said in a statement the attacks on networks are increasing and unavoidable as they become more popular.
“Computer users are spending more time on social networks, sharing sensitive and valuable personal information, and hackers have sniffed out where the money is to be made.”
“The dramatic rise in attacks in the last year tells us that social networks and their millions of users have to do more to protect themselves from organised cybercrime, or risk falling prey to identity theft schemes, scams and malware attacks.”
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
