Twitter warned some users early Sunday night that their accounts may have been the target of a “state sponsored attack.”
We received a warning from @twitter today stating we may be "targeted by state-sponsored actors" pic.twitter.com/oZm83eVFC5
— coldhak (@coldhakca) December 11, 2015
It’s unclear how many users received the emails or what prompted them. Unlike Facebook and Google, Twitter does not have a policy when it comes to informing users who may be targeted by state-sponsored hackers. This is the first known instance of Twitter informing its users of such an occurrence.
Some of the users who received the notices are involved with the Tor anonymity project and the broader Internet security community. Runa Sandvik, who researches privacy and security and helps train journalists on security and privacy, received a notice.
Just received this email from Twitter suggesting my account may have been targeted by state-sponsored actors. pic.twitter.com/QLcCzsHphw
— Runa Sandvik (@runasand) December 11, 2015
Twitter did not identify the state-sponsored attacker or describe its intentions. So far, 37 people are known to have have received the notice.
H/T Motherboard | Photo via emilykneeter/Flickr (CC BY 2.0) | Remix by Max Fleishman