ALERT: Twitter database has some phishy activity

The Hudson Horizons team has recently become very involved with Twitter. Since we created our own account, we've been regularly microblogging to keep our clients and partners in the loop about our company events and projects.

On Saturday, the Twitter team updated its company blog to include a troubling protection message:

"If you receive a direct message or a direct message email notification that redirects to what looks like Twitter.com-don't sign in. Look closely at the URL because it could be a scam."

The screenshot below, also taken from the blog post, depicts a typical-looking Twitter page. But look closely-- see the URL address? It's a phony redirect link these phishers are including in their scam email messages:

The Twitter blog post continued, "We've identified a phishing scam directed at Twitter users and we don't want you to get tricked into giving your password to a scammer."

What's phishing? It's sort of like a sub-level of computer hacking, through which scammers attempt to retrieve sensitive information from web surfers, including account login information, passwords, addresses, social security numbers, credit card and banking information, and more.

Twitter maintained that the phishing threat they identified is being passed through phony emails. The emails have been carefully designed to look like legit notifications from the microblogging website.

Sometimes they include unassuming messages such as: "hey! check out this funny blog about you..." and a clickable link. Twitter explained that the link "redirects to a site masquerading as the Twitter front page. Look closely at the URL field, if it has another domain besides Twitter but looks exactly like our page then it's a fraud and you should not sign in."

If you've received a suspect email from Twitter, and if you're worried you may have submitted your account and password information to one of these phony sites, Twitter recommends you reset your password immediately to protect your account against hackers looking to spam your Twitter contacts.

Don't let spammers, scammers, phishers, hackers, trolls, or cyberbullies ruin your online experience! Educate yourself, protect your computer, and help keep the wonderful world of Web 2.0 technologies a safe and enjoyable environment!