Security Hole in Twitter Proves to be a Problem

Twitter.com users got an unwanted surprise early this morning.

Due to an exploited security hole on the Twitter website thousands of Twitter.com users were unwillingly taken to other sites just by mousing over a link in their Twitter feed. At the same time these users were sending tweets to others spreading the exploit.

This "hole" is from the onMouseOver JavaScript code. Although most of the exploited security hole users used the hole for pranks or promotional purposes it was still a big annoyance to many.

Last month Twitter.com had the same problem with a exploited security hole and seemed to have fixed it. That is until this morning. A recent update to the site, not the new Twitter, is being blamed for the new hole surfacing. However, it was only the website users who were affected. Mobile device and twitter app users were untouched.

No long-lasting harm has come from this incident but it does pose a problem for the future. If someone uses a security hole for a harmful reason rather being funny or promotional, it could prove to be a big problem for
Twitter.

Twitter users can now return to using Twitter.com safely, for now.