When Barack Obama's followers on Twitter.com, the short-form blogging service, received the president-elect's latest update, they were probably expecting more thanks for their support. Instead they were asked "What is your opinion on Barack Obama? Take the survey and possibly win $500 in free gas." Shortly afterwards, followers of pop starlet Britney Spears were given what purported to be details of the singer's most intimate measurements. The website, beloved by technophiles and celebrities, had clearly succumbed to a widespread phishing attack, and comedian Stephen Fry was also one of those who is believed to have been taken in . His account supposedly offered people free iPhones because the star had clicked on a link purporting to be from Twitter itself, and found himself conned into handing over his login details.
Technology expert Robert Scoble also had his account tampered with, and CNN journalist Rick Sanchez apparently tweeted: "I am high on crack right now might not be coming into work today". Social networking site Facebook, meanwhile, apparently advertised an adult site on its Twitter feed. All these posts have subsequently been deleted by Twitter. Scoble suggested in a subsequent tweet that the groundwork for today's malicious posts had been laid earlier in the week when there was a more concerted "phishing" attempt. Spammers sent out emails such as the one Fry clicked on,apparently pointing to a blog or picture of a user. The page that came up, however, asked for login details and then used the accounts to send out further spam messages.
( www.telegraph.co.uk )
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