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Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire/Press Association Images

Twitter attacked by 'sophisticated' hackers

The attackers may have gained some access to user information.

INFORMATION BELONGING TO 250,000 Twitter users may have been accessed by hackers this week, the micro-blogging site revealed today.

In a blog post, the company said it detected “unusual access patterns” created by unauthorised attempts to get to user data.

“We discovered one live attack and were able to shut it down moments later,” explained Bob Lord, Director of Information Security.

However, the investigation indicated that the attackers may have had access to limited user information, including usernames, email addresses, session tokens and encrypted versions of passwords.

As a precautionary measure, passwords have been reset for the 250,000 affected accounts. Those impacted by the attack have been sent an email to inform them their old passwords will no longer work.

Twitter believes the attack was “not the work of amateurs” nor an isolated incident.

The attackers were extremely sophisticated, and we believe other companies and organisations have also been recently similarly attacked.

“For that reason we felt that it was important to publicise this attack while we still gather information, and we are helping government and federal law enforcement in their effort to find and prosecute these attackers to make the Internet safer for all users.”

The company advised its users:

Though only a very small percentage of our users were potentially affected by this attack, we encourage all users to take this opportunity to ensure that they are following good password hygiene, on Twitter and elsewhere on the Internet. Make sure you use a strong password – at least 10 (but more is better) characters and a mixture of upper- and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols – that you are not using for any other accounts or sites. Using the same password for multiple online accounts significantly increases your odds of being compromised. If you are not using good password hygiene, take a moment now to change your Twitter passwords. For more information about making your Twitter and other Internet accounts more secure, read our Help Center documentation or the FTC’s guide on passwords.

The US Department of Homeland Security has also encouraged users to disable Java in their browsers, following a number of system breaches in recent weeks.

Read: Google and French news websites reach agreement over the news

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12 Comments
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    Mute Right Wing Steve ©
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    Aug 18th 2013, 7:49 AM

    €3m is nothing, you couldn’t even pay off the Sligo county manager with that.

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    Mute Doey Walsh
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    Aug 18th 2013, 7:54 AM

    I wouldn’t say no to it ;)

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    Mute WanderArch
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    Aug 18th 2013, 8:00 AM

    So let me get this straight, banks are lending to agriculture and property development, one sector that is inherently inefficient and can get pretty much all of the grants by stamping their foot m, the other landed us in a mahoosive mess, with loans still outstanding to the tune of billions.
    Banks aren’t lending to R+D – the one area we know we can do quite well in, because we’re already doing quite well in it.
    People still wonder how a) we got into this mess, and b) we are still in it. This country is amazing.
    A. Maze. Ing.

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    Mute Fergal Gaultier
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    Aug 18th 2013, 10:10 AM

    I agree that is a bad figure but the reality is Ireland has never been great at R & D. I don’t know where R&D money comes from elsewhere but it is a very risky low return business and I doubt bank loans are the way to go.

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    Mute censored
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    Aug 18th 2013, 8:15 PM

    Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Check out the story of stripe, and ask yourself why they had to move to the US.

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    Mute FutureTech
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    Aug 18th 2013, 9:38 AM

    I am co-founder of a hi-tech SME. We’ve raised almost €1m from VCs and have contracts of approx €1m with some of the world’s biggest companies ( all exports). The lowest qualification in the company is an M.Sc. We were refused company credit cards until our CEO gave personal guarantees and we now have limits on the cc’s of €140. That’s the banks in Ireland. But glad 2 hear the property developers can get cash. That’s a lovely stable industry.

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    Mute Thomas M Bourke
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    Aug 18th 2013, 9:59 AM

    And people wonder why my company does ALL its banking and lending outside the republic!

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    Mute Fintan O HEifernain
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    Aug 18th 2013, 9:10 AM

    Insanity is repeating the same thing over and over and expecting different results. It’s evident that the banks are hoping for a return to the anomaly that was the property bubble.Try again, it’s not going to happen

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    Mute Anthony Byrne
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    Aug 18th 2013, 9:29 AM

    3 Mil? How much did “Fingers” walk with ? Remind me again ?

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    Mute Patrick
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    Aug 18th 2013, 10:30 AM

    The minister for small firms has small pockets.

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    Mute censored
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    Aug 18th 2013, 8:14 PM

    Of course, those are the traditional “safe as houses” sectors of the Irish economy. Just think about the qualifications for being a banker in Ireland – have you ever seen such a shower of smug gits?

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    Mute Austin Smith
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    Aug 20th 2013, 12:15 PM

    This blog makes me realize the energy of words and pictures. As always your things are just gorgeous and I am grateful that you let us look in! Keep coming up with ideas.
    Small Business Loan

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    Mute Robert Squires
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    Aug 19th 2013, 9:43 AM

    We are a sme with a patent product that we are Bringing to the Irish market .We have been refused credit from the banks as they need personal guarantees so we told them that we have no problem signing personal but we have no assets they still would not give us credit .We went to dublin city enterprises board and got approved for the 10 thousand euro feasibility grant we spent 24 thousand euro and now they have told us we are only getting 5650 euro as we did not employ an out side company to do our market research what a joke spend 24.000 and get 5650 . There is no help for sme in this country it’s a big joke !!!!

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