Newest Twitter worm takes aim at celebrities

A new Twitter worm is taking aim at celebrity accounts. It hacks into profiles and sends fake status updates to the account’s followers. Researchers say Ashton Kutcher and Oprah may be among those infected.

The worm is a new variant of the Mikeyy worm that hit over Easter weekend, compromising nearly 200 accounts and sending over 10,000 spam tweets. Like the Mikeyy worm, this new worm exploits a cross site scripting flaw on the site.

To protect yourself, use Firefox. As of now the worm only affects IE users. For extra protection, use a JavaScript blocking plug in. For the record, Mike Mooney, the New York teenager responsible for the Mikeyy worm, doesn’t appear to have anything to do with this one. It appears to be a copycat.

By the way, Rooney was hired by a web company called Exqsoft Solutions, for what appears to be no other reason other than the chance at getting some cheap publicity. Maybe it’s me, but I don’t think adding a known hacker to your payroll is really the kind of publicity a company needs!

Read[PCWorld]