USA Today Twitter account falls victim to hackers

By Mike Flacy Published September 26, 2011

usatoday-twitter — Image used with permission by copyright holder

On late Sunday, USA Today’s official account on Twitter was taken over by the hacking group known as the Script Kiddies. Representatives of USA Today quickly regained control of the account with help from Twitter. While no fake news post was distributed over the USA Today account, the hacking group used the platform of about 170,000 followers to brag about hacks on other prominent accounts and attempted to promote a recently created Facebook fan page for the group. Previous to Sunday’s hack, the most recent hack by the Script Kiddies occurred around the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. After hacking the account of NBC News, the group distributed a fake news post to about 140,000 followers that a new attack occurred at Ground Zero.

The NBC News hack caught the attention of the FBI and Twitter’s internal investigation puts the blame at email hacking instead of a flaw in Twitter’s security. Previous to the NBC News hack, the group hacked the official account of Fox News and tweeted to about 1 million followers that an assassination attempt on President Obama occurred in Iowa. Security analysts believe that the hackers used a spyware Trojan horse to log keystrokes. During the FBI investigation of the NBC News hack, only three executives had knowledge of the password to the official Twitter account. It’s believed that NBC News’s director of social media simply typed out the password when normally logging into the account and the virus recorded the password.

Recommended Videos

While Facebook previously removed the last fan page for the Script Kiddies, the recently created fan page still seems to be active. However, Twitter has suspended and likely deleted the @script_kiddiez_ Twitter account. Twitter also closed the previous Twitter feed for the hacking group uner the name of @S_Kiddies. The group is unofficially affiliated with the Antisec movement as well as Anonymous and LulzSec.

Contributing Editor

By day, I'm the content and social media manager for High-Def Digest, Steve's Digicams and The CheckOut on Ben's Bargains…

Topics

Twitter

Social Media

Meta used AI to make your Instagram feed harder to quit

Meta says its latest AI recommendation sytems are keeping people on Instagram longer by serving up more relevant Reels and Feed posts.

Instagram open on iPhone

Caught yourself scrolling on Instagram a lot longer lately? You're not imagining it. Meta just told investors what's driving that trend, and AI is at the center of it.

During its second-quarter earnings call, Meta said time spent on Instagram grew by double digits year over year after rolling out new AI-powered recommendation systems. According to the company, the biggest gains came from improvements to how it recommends Reels and other public content, making it easier to surface videos people are more likely to watch.

Social Media

Meta’s latest courtroom losses expose a potential hole in social media’s strongest defense

Plaintiffs are treating engagement features as deliberately designed products, an argument that could make Section 230 far less useful

Two jury losses have given plaintiffs momentum against Meta, but they haven’t rewritten the rules for social media. One case relied on New Mexico consumer-protection laws. The other asked a California jury whether addictive design contributed to a young woman’s mental-health issues.

The verdicts, detailed by The Wall Street Journal, reached Meta through different legal routes. Together, they suggest Section 230 becomes a less dependable shield when a lawsuit centers on choices made by the platform itself.

Social Media

Meta AI is moving into your Threads DMs, where awkward AI chats belong

Because not every AI conversation deserves a spot on your followers' timeline.

Meta AI in threads DM

One of the reasons Grok AI became so popular is because it let people chat with it directly on X, resulting in some hilarious conversations. And while the public availability of Grok AI on X has resulted in numerous safety issues, there's no denying that this openness played a major role in its rise.

It seems Meta wanted the same, which became evident when the company started testing Meta AI directly on Threads a few months ago, letting users chat with it right in their feed. But not everyone was comfortable having those conversations out in the open, so Meta has just moved its Meta AI inside your Threads’ DMs.