When TechCrunch published a post saying that they have obtained some vital Twitter documents from some hacker who got into personal accounts of some Twitter employees, the news spread like a wild fire in the forest. And as quickly as this news hit the headlines of most tech sites, Twitter also quickly replies and explains “vital information” regarding these so called vital documents.According to the official Twitter blog:
- the attack was targeted to one Twitter employee only
- that employee’s personal email account was hacked
- the hacker got access to the employees Google Apps account, including Google Docs, Calendar and other Google Apps which the employee is using for her Twitter-related transactions
- no security breach were done on Twitter users’ accounts
- the documents sent to top blog sites were not vital Twitter documents but rather rough drafts of plans and were never meant for public communication
- the documents could jeopardize relationships with Twitter’s ongoing and potential partners
- the documents should not be released for public consumption by anyone and legal actions may be taken by Twitter against any one who will do so
Some points to ponder on.
- this is not an attack to Twitter’s service but rather to Google Apps
- creating unique passwords is a must, especially in this times of collaborative technology and cloud computing
But more importantly, no one is safe in the online world. Take the necessary precautions to protect your personal, private information at all costs.