AP Twitter Hack Preceded By A Phishing Attempt, News Org Says

The AP Twitter hack which sent the stock market briefly crashing?was caused by a phishing attack, according to the AP. The news organization now says the attack on Twitter was “preceded by a phishing attempt on AP’s corporate network.” The Twitter attack, which has now become another high-profile example of why Twitter may serve as a breaking news outlet, but not a trustworthy one, came less than an hour after AP staff received “an impressively disguised phishing email” – at least, according to AP reporter Mike Baker, who shared this detail on Twitter. His account does not appear to be hacked, though we’ve asked both Baker and AP to confirm that fact, as well as the context of his tweets. (More to come Update: Although the AP confirmed the Twitter hack was preceded by a phishing attempt, an AP spokesperson declined to confirm Baker’s time frame of “less than an hour,” saying the AP had nothing further to add at this time.) While the tweet referencing an attack on the White House drew the most attention, it was not the only AP account to have been compromised today. More hacked tweets from a different AP account (@AP_Mobile) reference Syria, for example: The politicized nature of these tweets may give authorities investigating the hack a lead. The Syrian Electronic Army took credit for the attack, it seems. (See second screenshot, above). That Twitter account points to a website syrianelectornicarmy.com, which details its cyber attacks, notes the New York Times. As a precaution, tweeting has been suspended from??@AP_Politics and @AP_Courtside, the news organization says. Until AP can vouch for the security of its systems, it’s asking readers and followers to not respond to any news these accounts may post. The high-profile nature of the posts the AP account made today has brought attention to what would have otherwise been a run-of-the-mill “Twitter account compromised” kind of story, which, as Twitter gains in popularity, are now increasingly common. (Burger King and McDonald’s being recent examples of that.) However, as the resulting impact to financial markets showed, a need for news organizations to strengthen their own internal security measures may be called for. Twitter, too, also still needs to think about offering additional protection to users – like two-factor authentication, which Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook and other tech companies already support. The company has previously said it was “exploring” this?possibility. For starters, like many

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