Obama Twitter Hack

On January 5, 2009, news of the Obama Twitter hack made headlines in cyberspace and the blogosphere.

Back in the 1930s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt kept in touch with American through his series of 30 Fireside Chats. Fast forward to May of 2009. The White House Blog reports that President Obama wants to make our government "more transparent," and wishes to "reach beyond the halls of government" to engage the American public. As such, the White House now has a Facebook Page, a Myspace Page and a Twitter Page.

The 140 character Twitter posts represent a significant departure from the wordy Fireside Chats of President Roosevelt. One can speculate that television has given Americans chronic attention deficit disorder, and that we now have enough patience for a more "just the facts" type of news. That said, there are many who would argue that social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook helped Obama win the election, because they gave him more credibility with younger voters. Unfortunate, what can be used for admirable purposes can also be used against you, as evidenced by a particularly famous Twitter hack.

According to an article in the Washington Times, the Obama Twitter hack took place at 12:30 eastern time on January 5th. The post asked "What is your opinion on Barack Obama? Take the survey and possibly win $500 in free gas." Users were also asked to answer two other questions:

• Is Obama ready to lead?
• Did you vote in this year's election?

Users were asked to leave their email address. They were then brought to a website called twitter.access-logins.com, which was designed to steal the Twitter user name and password of the person logging in.

Depending on how you see it, it turns out that Obama was in good (or bad) company. The hackers also broke into the Twitter accounts of CNN's Rick Sanchez and singer Britney Spears. The Sanchez hack stated that he was currently "high on crack." The Britney Spears hack made obscene references to certain parts of her anatomy.

Writer Kim Zetter of Wired Magazine reports that a member of the message forum called Digital Gangster was responsibly for the Obama Twitter hack. Apparently the member, who uses the handle GMZ, managed to gain entry into Twitter’s administrative control panel by using an automated password-guesser on a regular user's account. The user's name was Crystal, and "happiness" was her password. Cracking the account was relatively simple, since Twitter allows a number of successive, unsuccessful login attempts.

Besides having a simple password, it turned out that Crystal was a member of Twitter's administrative staff. This meant that he now had access to a number of other accounts; all he needed to do was reset the account holder’s password through the administrative panel. GMZ decided to post a message on the Digital Gangster message board, a popular online former for hackers. He offered five members free access to the Twitter accounts of their choice.

In addition to the accounts of President Barack Obama, Rick Sanchez and Britney Spears, the members of Digital Gangster hacked into the Twitter accounts of Fox News, CBS News and Digg founder Kevin Rose. The Fox News hack was particularly malicious. It read, "Breaking News: Bill O'Reilly is Gay."

The Obama Twitter problem sheds light on the importance of protecting your safety on Twitter. Since Twitter links are often shortened to provide extra space, it's hard to tell what type of website you will be visiting once you click. Proceed with caution and be careful not to enter your user name or password on potentially fake Twitter login pages.

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