New danger for Twitter users: millions of private messages in the hands of hackers? Here’s how to protect yourself and keep criminals away from the app
Twitter is one of the longest-lived social networks on the web: born in 2006 from an idea of Jack Dorsey, it has managed to survive the advance of big giants, such as Instagram and Facebook, without ever losing its identity. Today, it remains the preferred platform for press officers.
The social network has about 140 million daily active users and their data are very valuable for the hacker communities that crowd the network. Attempts to break into the system to steal users’ information are frequent, with the latest happening in the last few hours. Twitter warned users about a vulnerability in the Android app, which would have allowed cybercriminals to see the content of private messages and more. The danger should be contained, thanks to an immediate action of the team, however the top management recommends updating the app as soon as possible to thwart any danger. But what exactly happened?
Twitter attack: users’ data in danger
The news is confirmed by the company’s top management: Twitter has intercepted a suspicious activity within the Android app. A hacker allegedly managed to hijack accounts to an external platform in order to read users’ private data, particularly private messages but also tweets and location information. Despite the fact that the developers’ teams immediately went to work to stop the criminal action, some information might still end up in the wrong hands.
To access the data, the hacker would have relied on a complicated process, which requires inserting a malicious code inside the Twitter app. Despite the fact that the developers have worked hard to remove it, it is not ruled out that traces of this code are still present inside the Android app. On the contrary, the bug would not affect the security of iOS systems, so all iPhone and iPad users can rest assured.
Twitter’s advice: update Android app now
In the last few hours, Twitter is sending an email to all affected people. The message says “Please update your app with the latest version of Twitter for Android and make sure your account is well protected.”
In the email there are some specific instructions to increase the level of security: these vary depending on the version of the operating system present in the smartphone. The company clarified that the problem has been fixed on Lollipop 8.18 and KitKat 7.93.4 version both released the last months of 2019. It also pointed out that the app no longer works for those with Android versions prior to KitKat.
The platform communicated the increasing attention to suspicious actions, however, it did not clarify whether it was a team of employees or external researchers who discovered the bug. One thing is for sure: in addition to staying informed about the latest official news, to increase the security of an app it’s crucial to update it often and change credentials frequently, using strong and complex passwords.