Attack at Twitter with Nazi Hashtag

Click to read the article in Turkish

Many Twitter accounts including Forbes, UNICEF USA, Amnesty International, Duke University, Borussia Dortmund from Bundesliga have been hacked with the hashtag NaziHollanda.

My account was also among those hacked; my profile photo was replaced with the Ottoman crest.

I keep in mind security protocols as much as I can.

* I have a password consisting of 19 characters that include upper case, lower case and number.

* My Twitter password is not saved in any device other than my personal and office computers.

* I changed my Twitter password around 2 months ago.

* I don’t click Spam messages or e-mail sent by unidentified senders.

* I only permitted access of known or approved applications to my Twitter account.

How did this happen?

So, what happened?

When I realized that my account was hacked, I immediately attempted to change my password. My password wasn’t hacked.

I asked Serhat Koç, an informatics legalist, about this situation. Koç told me if I had taken the aforementioned measures, then my password might be seized via “Sniffer”.

Sniffer is a software, which enables access to Internet traffic through networks and to password through analysis, hidden in websites. Koç also added that similar softwares are buried in websites like streaming sites, and the information obtained by the sites for user traffic might be maliciously used by third parties.

He also stressed the importance of using antivirus programs.

Cause: Twitter Counter

How the accounts were hacked was later uncovered. According to the technology site Engadget, the tweets could be posted by the hacking of Twitter Counter. Twitter also confirmed the attack, according to the Guardian. “We’ve swiftly found out the source and determined that it was originated in a third party program and removed the permissions immediately”.

Twitter Counter’s manager Omer Ginor said, “We are aware of the situation. We’ve started an investigation. We’ve taken necessary precautions after concluding that this incident occurred through our system”.

“We don’t store our users’ Twitter account passwords and credit card information”, Ginor added. (EA/TK)