Twitter Down; Hackers Claim Credit; Phishers Take Advantage
Twitter has been down to one extent or another tonight for many users. It didn’t take long for scammers and phishers to step up and take advantage of the crash, either.
For some users, Twitter seems to be completely down or down on some platforms. Others are just seeing odd glitches — a tweet just posted will be marked as a year old.
Many, however, say that they’re seeing links in public posts or direct messages assuring them that a click will fix their problems.
However, Twitter says that the issue is an internal problem.
We’re working on resolving issues some users are having signing in on some platforms. Watch this handle & http://t.co/7BlGvFMC3e for updates
— Twitter Support (@Support) December 29, 2014
What’s more, some users say that when they click these purported ‘support’ links, they’re kicked off of the site, and the person behind the links steals their personal and account information.
Hacktivists and tech-savvy users, including some Anonymous accounts, have been spreading the word to warn others.
AGAIN – DO NOT CLICK ANY OF THE CONVINCING TWITTER SUPPORT LINKS BEING POSTED THEY ARE PHISHING YOUR INFO AND KICKING YOU OFF #TwitterDown
— Anonymous (@TheAnonMovement) December 29, 2014
A rumor quickly spread that the Lizard Squad was behind the issue, but despite claims and reported attempts by some hacker groups to take credit, there’s no sign that Twitter was actually hacked.
The first sign of trouble was that users of the Android Twitter app were booted from the site, but at that point, there were no problems staying logged in on a computer. Some users are reporting that TweetDeck is also down.
Me: “I use Twitter on Android.” Twitter: “Imma break that.” Me: “Okay I’ll use Tweetdeck instead.” Twitter: “Okay Imma break that too.”
— Paul Fidalgo (@PaulFidalgo) December 29, 2014
However, some of the confusion may arise from the opportunists who started tweeting phishing links as soon as Twitter went down. Users who saw an invitation to fix their Twitter problems clicked and never knew that the next round of issues they faced was a separate attack, not the direct result of Twitter being down.
Twitter reports that some users are still having difficulty logging into accounts. If you can’t get into Twitter, don’t click anything that promises to fix problems with the site! Twitter has this page for checking site status. By checking it, you’ll be able to tell if Twitter is down for other users too. If issues continue, you can contact support for further assistance.
