Obama's hacked Twitter a warning?
Obama's hacked Twitter a warning?
Posted January 6, 2009 9:12 AM
by Frank James
As one of those who felt badly for President-elect Barack Obama that he was going to be made to give up his Blackberry, I have to say that yesterday's report that his Twitter account was compromised seemed to make the point for those who worry that his use of the latest communications technology could be problematic for security as well as other reasons.
As was reported on Twitter's blog Monday morning:
This morning we discovered 33 Twitter accounts had been "hacked" including prominent Twitter-ers like Rick Sanchez and Barack Obama (who has not been Twittering since becoming the president elect due to transition issues). We immediately locked down the accounts and investigated the issue. Rick, Barack, and others are now back in control of their accounts.
I assume the Sanchez mentioned is CNN's on-air personality. It's a little odd that the posting's author mentioned Sanchez before, say, the next president of the U.S. But set that aside.
Obama is at least the second high-profile politician to have an e-mail or social networking account hacked in recent memory. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's Yahoo email account was hacked last year allegedly by a University of Tennessee student who also happened to be the son of a Democratic lawmaker.
Now we have the hacking of Obama's Twitter account. The security vulnerabilities in these Internet-based communications technologies are obviously fairly significant. And it appears there's no simple way to close them.
In the posting on its site, Twitter says they restored control of the accounts but it clearly sounds like the possibility remains that Obama's Twitter account could be hacked again.
Looks like the message to high-profile figures, especially nationally politicians, is Twitterer beware.
Full posting.
Posted January 6, 2009 9:12 AM
by Frank James
As one of those who felt badly for President-elect Barack Obama that he was going to be made to give up his Blackberry, I have to say that yesterday's report that his Twitter account was compromised seemed to make the point for those who worry that his use of the latest communications technology could be problematic for security as well as other reasons.
As was reported on Twitter's blog Monday morning:
This morning we discovered 33 Twitter accounts had been "hacked" including prominent Twitter-ers like Rick Sanchez and Barack Obama (who has not been Twittering since becoming the president elect due to transition issues). We immediately locked down the accounts and investigated the issue. Rick, Barack, and others are now back in control of their accounts.
I assume the Sanchez mentioned is CNN's on-air personality. It's a little odd that the posting's author mentioned Sanchez before, say, the next president of the U.S. But set that aside.
Obama is at least the second high-profile politician to have an e-mail or social networking account hacked in recent memory. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's Yahoo email account was hacked last year allegedly by a University of Tennessee student who also happened to be the son of a Democratic lawmaker.
Now we have the hacking of Obama's Twitter account. The security vulnerabilities in these Internet-based communications technologies are obviously fairly significant. And it appears there's no simple way to close them.
In the posting on its site, Twitter says they restored control of the accounts but it clearly sounds like the possibility remains that Obama's Twitter account could be hacked again.
Looks like the message to high-profile figures, especially nationally politicians, is Twitterer beware.
Full posting.