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Twitter Users Warned About Being Targeted By State-Sponsored Attacks (bbc.com)

Posted by Soulskill on from the sowing-140-characters-worth-of-social-unrest dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Twitter has sent out unexpected warning notices to a number of users, informing them that their account might have been targeted by state-sponsored hackers. This is the first time Twitter is known to have sent out such notifications, and they're also recommending Tor and other privacy-oriented measures to these users. Among known recipients of the message are Coldhak, a Winnipeg-based nonprofit; Coldhak director Colin Childs; privacy and security researcher Runa Sandvik; activists and cryptoparty organizer Cassie Traun; security researcher Noris Fabio; Tech writer and programmer David Robinson; and banker and mathematics student Jens Kubieziel (also the author of a book about anonymity on the Internet).

43 comments

  1. tor? twitter? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Yeah right. twitter will ban your account. Source: I've twitter over tor and had my account banned. One tweet, not offensive or spammy.

    1. Re:tor? twitter? by gcnaddict · · Score: 2

      These guys will probably be given usage exceptions then.

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    2. Re:tor? twitter? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure what you're doing wrong, but it works fine for me. I regularly use it through Tails OS (all Tor, all the time) and Twitter hasn't bumped me off yet. I think Twitter was very anti-Tor until the last year or so. Was your experience further back than that?

    3. Re:tor? twitter? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you could try to use a static exit node which doesn't change during your session. try some out until you find one which works and use it.

    4. Re:tor? twitter? by Irate+Engineer · · Score: 1

      Yes, but you won't be a target of state-sponsored terror anymore! You have to look on the bright side.

      --

      Left MS Windows for Linux Mint and never looked back!

      Vote for Bernie in 2016!

    5. Re:tor? twitter? by Mashiki · · Score: 2, Informative

      Doubtful. Twitter already engages in banning people for wrongthink and forcing people to delete tweets that are engaged in wrongthink as well. You think they'll give an exemption to Tor users? I doubt it, more likely they'll bend over backwards and give the totalitarian governments a hand.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    6. Re:tor? twitter? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, they are only forcing people to delete tweets if the people want to continue posting new tweets.
      Given that Twitter is not a soapbox, I don't think it's all that bad a think to ask.
      It's not like they're actively deleting them.

    7. Re:tor? twitter? by cayenne8 · · Score: 1
      HMm....

      Sounds to me like yet ANOTHER reason not to be on social media, like FB or twitter....

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    8. Re:tor? twitter? by Krojack · · Score: 1

      I know Tor is pretty large in scale and has a lot of IP addresses through it's many proxies, but I've always wondered what the chances you get an IP that some spammer just used thus causing problems such as your twitter getting blocked.

    9. Re:tor? twitter? by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

      Sounds to me like yet ANOTHER reason not to be on social media, like FB or twitter....

      Exactly...as if I needed another reason, lol.

      I have no facebook, no twitter, no pinterest, instagram, linkedin, etc etc etc, none of that crap. And yet my life seems to be doing just fine, better in fact than most the people I know who are obsessively fiddling with that shit all day long. I have a life, they have text messages.

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    10. Re:tor? twitter? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It was probably a year or two back.

    11. Re:tor? twitter? by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      Social Media is about Public Information. If you choose to post political beliefs then people will know your political beliefs, and not all of them will agree with you. If you are posting that you are doing illegal activities then chances are the officials will be finding that. Using FaceBook or Twitter is fine if you post stuff that you want everyone to know about you.

      I tend to limit to pictures of my Pets, and the weather.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    12. Re:tor? twitter? by cayenne8 · · Score: 1

      Social Media is about Public Information. If you choose to post political beliefs then people will know your political beliefs, and not all of them will agree with you. If you are posting that you are doing illegal activities then chances are the officials will be finding that. Using FaceBook or Twitter is fine if you post stuff that you want everyone to know about you.

      I tend to limit to pictures of my Pets, and the weather.

      Well, it isn't just what YOU post. You might be careful....

      BUT, it can cause you problesm due to who is linked with you as friends, and who is linked to them and to them and...well, you get the picture.

      It might be 3 or 4 generations away from you, but what happens if a bad actor is linked to YOU for what they say, post or do.

      If you need any kind of security clearance, this can raise flags on your application.

      It isn't always what you do, but what someone else linked to you (that you might not even really know) that can potentially be linked to you.

      I mean, there might be someone that is 4-5 levels of friends away from someone that was friends with the CA terrorists, and you can bet your sweet ass that they and likely several levels even further away are now on some kind of watch list for extra scrutiny.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    13. Re:tor? twitter? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1
      Where are you getting threats of stabbing in either linked article? I see one archive of an article about Twitter expanding what it considers abuse, and another archive that claims to show abuse of the widened scope.

      To that end, Twitter has also broadened its definition of "violent threats"—which may lead to more users getting stuck in this new suspension net—by removing a "direct, specific" qualifier and adding a qualifier about "promoting violence against others."

      Are you getting confused by the presumably fake tweet? I know, it seems odd that Twitter would use a direct threat of violence to demonstrate that they will now ban indirect, non-specific promotion of violence against others. But hey, going by your reaction and moderation, it works.

    14. Re:tor? twitter? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Twitter should recommend a better decentralized service. Too bad users are too stupid to figure it out on their own.

  2. I think my tinder was targeted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Can't seem to find local babes

    1. Re:I think my tinder was targeted by slashdice · · Score: 1

      Try using grindr instead.

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      Copyright (c) 1990 - 2014 Dice. All rights reserved. Use of this comment is subject to certain Terms and Conditions.
  3. State-Sponsored attacks? by rossdee · · Score: 2

    so which states are sponsoring these attacks? I know that if I was living in one of those states I would be contacting the governor and my local state representative and senator about the waste of taxpayers money. They should be spending the surplus on roads and bridges (or giving us tax refunds if they were Republican s)

    1. Re: State-Sponsored attacks? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      State sponsored refers to foreign governments and their invasive, repressive machinery. Sort of like China, you know?

    2. Re:State-Sponsored attacks? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Interesting fact: Most States don't have governors or republicans, and many don't have senators! Also, by population, States with those things are about 5%. Even by landmass, those States comprise under 1%.

      The more you know!

    3. Re:State-Sponsored attacks? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Patriarchy.

    4. Re: State-Sponsored attacks? by messymerry · · Score: 1

      What makes you think it's "foreign" governments???

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      Dear Microlimp: I give you 2 valid product keys for win7 and you reject both of them. Piss off you wankers!!!
    5. Re: State-Sponsored attacks? by ZouPrime · · Score: 1

      Could also be the US. The point is that "state sponsored" should be read as "nation-state sponsored". It has nothing to do with individual states within the US.

    6. Re: State-Sponsored attacks? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Also sort of like the United States. They've even deployed their spy apparatus against their own citizens.

    7. Re: State-Sponsored attacks? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Also sort of like the United States. They've even deployed their spy apparatus to benefit their own citizens.

      FTFY. Not getting blown up by suicide bombers is a benefit.

  4. Your. Move. by slashdice · · Score: 0

    It's not so much that this shows my quick-thinking resourcefulness but that it gives CmdrTaco some material to work with.

    Yesterday morning I was completely overcome with the urge to shit. The nearest public restroom was a half-mile away. It wasn't even going to work to step outside the tent to go behind a bush so I... ... grabbed an empty soup can then shat into it.

    And another, and another. Only a little into the third.

    Then I wiped my ass on a torn-off piece of paper grocery sack.

    Stuffed the asswipe into that last can, set all three cans outside the tent, got another couple hours sleep then carried the cans to a trash can a hundred yards away.

    --
    Copyright (c) 1990 - 2014 Dice. All rights reserved. Use of this comment is subject to certain Terms and Conditions.
  5. Re: Okay, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Twitter allows you to post your every thought. It is a temporary workaround while the chips they are going to insert in our brains are being beta tested.

  6. Hidden Service by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If Twitter is serious about looking out for these people, aside from recommending Tor they will set up a Hidden Service just like their friends at Facebook have been running for awhile.

    The irony of Facebook's hidden service, though, is that they require proof of your real name to use it, and proof of a mobile phone number. Those two things will, of course, ruin the anonymity or pseudonymity that people evading oppression require. Twitter has no such requirements, but does a pretty good job of bumping off abusive accounts before they can do much damage.

    1. Re:Hidden Service by davecb · · Score: 1

      Tor and Tails try to protect data in flight and its destination from third parties, not your deal with the endpoint. The latter may well use an account and password.

      --
      davecb@spamcop.net
    2. Re:Hidden Service by Yonder+Way · · Score: 1

      But Tor can do nothing about the path between the exit node and the endpoint. It can't protect you against an endpoint that is a bad actor. That's where the hidden service comes in handy; the Tor user has a completely hidden connection to the endpoint without the normal problems associated with malevolent exit nodes, or the path between the exit and the endpoint. Yes, good habits are still required between the hidden service user and the hidden service.

  7. Don't fight the crime if you can't waste the time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Don't do it!

    Throw away the account. Make a new one. Throw it away! Go some where else! Do some thing else!

  8. Re: Okay, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Reminds me of faceplace

  9. Re: Okay, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Twitter allows you to post your every thought. ...

    Only if your thought processes are limited and extremely shallow.

    Which explains a lot...

  10. Re: Okay, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Twitter allows you to post your every thought. It is a temporary workaround while the chips they are going to insert in our brains are being beta tested.

    Given that social media has become an incubator for pure unadulterated narcissism, I find it hard to believe that any government or corporation would justify the expense to build the chipped-brain technobabble you're rambling on about here.

    In fact, your very statement runs counter to itself. If social media allows people to post their "every thought", care to tell me why they need to read minds? It's all right there in their Twatter/Farcebook/InstaLookAtMe feeds.

  11. New Hampshire is the main culprit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They are always trying to guess my password and read my emails.

  12. DM contents more private than email addresses by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I doubt state-sponsored attackers are likely to break into twitter accounts to get the user's email address when the person is publicly known. They more likely want DM (direct message) contents, twitter's version of user-to-user private messages.

  13. Lol, not me by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

    Damn, if only I had a Twitter account then I could lay awake at night worrying about this...

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    1. Re:Lol, not me by mlts · · Score: 1

      I just set 2FA on my Twitter account and forget about it. The only reason I have a Twitter account is because during a recent job interview, the interviewer asked about what stuff I tweeted, I told him that I didn't bother... and the interviewer called me a fossil for not being "hip enough to use modern technology" and ended the interview. So, I have a Twitter account just so if asked about it, I can say I have one, and actually have bothered to follow one company.

      That, and one website I used to use decided to ditch their internal user authentication and piggyback off of Twitter for their user gatekeeper. I personally wouldn't trust a third party site with the keys to my kingdom, but we all know how security tends to not really be a high priority these days.

    2. Re:Lol, not me by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

      ... and the interviewer called me a fossil for not being "hip enough to use modern technology" and ended the interview.

      Jesus, what a jackass. I would have told that prick in no uncertain terms to FUCK RIGHT OFF, and I might have accidentally spilled my coffee on his desk on the way out (hey, accidents happen, amirite?).

      Seriously, if you won't hire me because I don't have a fucking twitter account, then fuck you. You and your company are exactly the kind of assholes I'd never want to work for.

      And, just to close the loop, if he wasn't the CEO, I'd write the CEO a brief, polite letter him know what an asswipe his hiring manager was.

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
  14. Re:Okay, but... by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

    I don't even know what Twitter is. What is it?

    Twitter is the confetti of the internet.

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
  15. I have been targeted myself by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

    The US government is requiring me to register my drones.

    See!

    How will I bird watch all the nests now?

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