Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Dominic Lipinski/Press Association Images

Twitter warns users about possible 'government' hacking

The company emailed a number of users alerting them to hacking attempts from ‘state-sponsored actors’.

TWITTER HAS SENT out emails warning some users of a potential hacking attempt from ‘state-sponsored actors’.

The service emailed those users affected saying that the hackers may have tried obtaining their email address, IP addresses or phone numbers, and may have been doing so on the behest of a government organisation.

While the number of people and groups who received emails is unknown, those who received ones tend to be working in online security and privacy.

“As a precaution, we are alerting you that your Twitter account is one of a small group of accounts that may have been targeted by state-sponsored actors,” said the email. “We believe that these actors (possibly associated with a government) may have been trying to obtain information such as email addresses, IP addresses, and/or phone numbers.”

At this time, we have no evidence they obtained your account information, but we’re actively investigating this matter. We wish we had more we could share, but we don’t have any additional information.

The email recommended those users to visit the Tor project, which allows users to be anonymous on the web, but said that the accounts notified might not have been intended targets.

It’s the first time that Twitter has issued such a warning.

Back in 2014, the incident which saw Sony’s being hacked was said to be the work of hackers working for the North Korean government. The action was in response to it releasing the comedy film The Interview.

Read: What apps allow you to activate two-step verification? >

Read: Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook will “fight to protect” Muslim rights >

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
29 Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Desmodromic
    Favourite Desmodromic
    Report
    Jan 4th 2017, 8:15 PM

    As much as I respect the English vote to leave the EU it’s hard to watch them marching towards self harm.

    81
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tweety McTweeter
    Favourite Tweety McTweeter
    Report
    Jan 4th 2017, 8:28 PM

    It’s not just self harm. If there’s a hard Brexit, Ireland is going to be seriously damaged. We need fight with them for a soft Brexit with relaxed borders

    33
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Peter Murphy
    Favourite Peter Murphy
    Report
    Jan 4th 2017, 8:32 PM

    Back to school for you it wasn’t the English that voted but the British including the Shots,Welsh and the Northern Irish after living in the Republic for over thirty years I am never surprised by the geography of some people in Ireland

    35
    See 13 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tweed Cap
    Favourite Tweed Cap
    Report
    Jan 4th 2017, 8:40 PM

    Always wanted to go Shotland myself.

    64
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tweety McTweeter
    Favourite Tweety McTweeter
    Report
    Jan 4th 2017, 8:46 PM

    I hate the Shots, they ruined Shotland!

    48
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Fred Johnson
    Favourite Fred Johnson
    Report
    Jan 4th 2017, 8:58 PM

    @Peter Murphy:

    The Scots voted for Brexit did they Peter? What was the outcome in Scotland again?

    52
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute king Tut
    Favourite king Tut
    Report
    Jan 4th 2017, 9:00 PM

    Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to remain. Funny, Britain had a major problem with geography as well, mainly relating to borders and sovereignty.

    58
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute jane
    Favourite jane
    Report
    Jan 4th 2017, 9:05 PM

    Peter I assume by your defensiveness that you are English and if you are you’re hardly in a position to be criticizing others on their geography. After all the English were so confused about geography at one stage that they though we were part of England. Some might say some of their confusion persists to this day.

    43
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tweety McTweeter
    Favourite Tweety McTweeter
    Report
    Jan 4th 2017, 9:11 PM

    Huh?

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Desmodromic
    Favourite Desmodromic
    Report
    Jan 4th 2017, 9:23 PM

    The English votes were the ones that made the difference.

    16
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tony Hartigan
    Favourite Tony Hartigan
    Report
    Jan 5th 2017, 8:31 AM

    Just go and ask any British individual about British geography and then you may critise the Irish knowledge.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Harry Whitehead
    Favourite Harry Whitehead
    Report
    Jan 5th 2017, 10:32 AM

    Nearly 4 in 10 Scots voted against the EU, Fred. Just as almost half of English voters sided with Remain. Suddenly doesn’t look so wonderfully unambiguous, does it?

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Harry Whitehead
    Favourite Harry Whitehead
    Report
    Jan 5th 2017, 10:34 AM

    Were they, Desmodromic? You do realise that if every Scottish voter had voted Remain it would hve completely tilted the balance in favour of Remain, right? Clan Sturgeon hate being reminded of this.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Patrick Gough
    Favourite Patrick Gough
    Report
    Jan 5th 2017, 1:35 PM

    tweets. It has to be a hard brexit. The brits don’t want poles crossing the border in great numbers. The EU don’t want brits crossing the border into our EU. so be it.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Fred Johnson
    Favourite Fred Johnson
    Report
    Jan 5th 2017, 3:49 PM

    @Harry Whitehead:

    63% remain Harry. Come on now, you’re a big fan of democracy, even you must admit that is a clearcut result and at odds with the English.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Duggan Michael
    Favourite Duggan Michael
    Report
    Jan 5th 2017, 5:53 PM

    North of Ireland is not British it’s Irish perhaps you should check your geography!!!!

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Fred Johnson
    Favourite Fred Johnson
    Report
    Jan 4th 2017, 8:54 PM

    I love all this dramatic theatrics and raised expectations from the Brits about “negotiations”.

    In order to negotiate, the British need a card to play. I would love to know what card they think they have to play. The EU have a market of 450 million. The British have 65 million. 45% of British exports go to the EU. Less than 10% of EU exports go to the UK. If they have to go to WTO rules on trade, the EU would do just fine. Sales of BMWs to the UK might dip slightly, but not much else. Meanwhile, the UK economy is utterly devastated as much of their industry relies on the EU wide market.

    This is going to be hilarious. It might not take 10 years to “negotiate”, it might take 10 days. But the Brits won’t like the outcome.

    27
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Congress Tart
    Favourite Congress Tart
    Report
    Jan 4th 2017, 9:10 PM

    @Fred Johnson:
    “The EU have a market of 450 million. The British have 65 million”

    You sure?

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Fred Johnson
    Favourite Fred Johnson
    Report
    Jan 4th 2017, 10:11 PM

    @Congress Tart:

    Yes, i’m sure. Why don’t you STFU unless you’ve something constructive to say or add.

    10
    See 8 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Congress Tart
    Favourite Congress Tart
    Report
    Jan 4th 2017, 10:17 PM

    @Fred Johnson:

    EU exports for 2013 were 2.188 TRILLION, you absolute goober.
    http://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/eu-position-in-world-trade/

    “The EU have a market of 450 million.” lol – market of what? Clueless.

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Congress Tart
    Favourite Congress Tart
    Report
    Jan 4th 2017, 10:29 PM

    @Fred Johnson: your figures are literally 4,844 times off. What a goof.

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tricia Nolan
    Favourite Tricia Nolan
    Report
    Jan 4th 2017, 11:59 PM

    I think Fred’s numbers relate to the number of citizens in the European Union (450 million excluding the UK which has a population of 65million). So I think Fred is pretty much spot on!

    21
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul Fahey
    Favourite Paul Fahey
    Report
    Jan 5th 2017, 8:15 AM

    Tricia – Fred constantly spouts these disingenuous figures, but ask him to put the financial values of the respective markets down and you will see a very different picture. The trade deficit between Britain and the EU is vastly in the EU’s favour, especially for Germany and France. The current deficit listed below is over €100,000,000,000.

    https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/nationalaccounts/balanceofpayments/bulletins/uktrade/apr2016

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Congress Tart
    Favourite Congress Tart
    Report
    Jan 5th 2017, 9:55 AM

    @Tricia Nolan: the population numbers are almost irrelevant, since not all countries are financially equal. It’s about trade numbers – not population.
    India has over 1 billion people, but most live in poverty so that number is not an advantage when it comes to trade & economy. Fred just spat out numbers that are meaningless to this topic.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Harry Whitehead
    Favourite Harry Whitehead
    Report
    Jan 5th 2017, 10:51 AM

    Tricia, quoting population sizes for market shares is about as disingenuous as quoting a country’s land area. By that logic, I could say “Indonesia has a market of 260 million, Japan has a market of 130 million” – sounds a lot more impressive, doesn’t it?

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Fred Johnson
    Favourite Fred Johnson
    Report
    Jan 5th 2017, 3:51 PM

    @Harry Whitehead:

    Ok how about this one harry, the EU (excluding the UK) has a GDP five times larger than the UK.

    Does that scale work sufficiently well for you?

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul Fahey
    Favourite Paul Fahey
    Report
    Jan 5th 2017, 4:30 PM

    Fred – oh dear, but you overlook the most important issue in the negotiation, the deficit ad it is over €100,000,000,000 per annum. You really think the utter financial basket case that is the EU is going to turn their back in this in addition to the €10,000,000,000 contribution the UK will no longer pay.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Brown Boots
    Favourite Brown Boots
    Report
    Jan 4th 2017, 9:10 PM

    Should’ve gone for Kevin Spacey or Samuel L Jackson… This is becoming more of a circus than Hollywood so would probably be fitting if they chose one based on the movie! GREAT Britain is really losing its image as a together sort of place, even the ‘leave’ side are starting to turn on the ‘leave’ side! What a mess! Even Bozzo is doing his best to disappear for a while it seems. They said start negotiations by the end of March, but did they say a year… May be a crucial detail they can fall back on to save embarrassment, Ahem, further embarrassment!

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
    Favourite Fiona Fitzgerald
    Report
    Jan 4th 2017, 8:51 PM

    Out of sheer curiosity, can he speak any French?

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ossi Fritsche
    Favourite Ossi Fritsche
    Report
    Jan 4th 2017, 8:28 PM

    Backstabbing infighting typical Tories, and the likes of I.D.S, what a mess well done Dave Cameron.

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute filthypete
    Favourite filthypete
    Report
    Jan 4th 2017, 10:28 PM

    Boris the blade has resigned!!!

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Gerry Purcell
    Favourite Gerry Purcell
    Report
    Jan 4th 2017, 8:52 PM

    Let’s hope this guy has the sense to keep his thoughts to himself and just say what he’s told to say

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute oliverjumelle
    Favourite oliverjumelle
    Report
    Jan 4th 2017, 11:51 PM

    Eh. The judges will decide that! Mrs may!

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Patrick Gough
    Favourite Patrick Gough
    Report
    Jan 5th 2017, 1:33 PM

    may’s problem is that all the smart people in her party are “remain” people.

    1
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds