Twitter Shares Fall on Hacking Concerns

Shares of social network firm Twitter Inc. dropped nearly 7 percent after the US group revealed it was looking into suspicious traffic that could be from state-backed hackers, in what seemed to be a separate matter, a security company said hackers used the platform to steal user data.

Twitter stated that it found unusual traffic to a customer-support forum while investigating a security bug that exposed data, including users’ mobile phone country codes and information on locked accounts.

The bug, discovered on November 15, was fixed the next day, with the group saying full phone numbers or any other personal details of users has not been exposed.  

The huge amount of traffic to the forum came from individual IP addresses in China and Saudi Arabia, according to Twitter.

While the California-based firm cannot verify intent or attribution for certain, Twitter believed it is likely that some of the IP addresses might be connected to state-sponsored actors.

Twitter said it continue to err on the side of full transparency in this area and have updated law enforcement on their findings.

A spokesman for the group declined to provide further details as Twitter’s stock suffered its biggest fall in more than two months.

News of the bug also came on the same day the US senate reported how Russia used every social media platform to influence the 2016 election.  

The government of China has resolutely denied taking part in hacking or other kinds of internet attacks, stating that it is committed to cracking down such actions.

Hua Chunying , spokeswoman for the Chinese Ministry, said the country’s position on internet security and attacks was consistent, adding that China hopes all sides can resolve the issue through talks and cooperation on the basis of mutual respect.

Analyst Michael Pachter held waning worries responsible for the breach likely harming growth and user engagement.

Clearly, a breach like this impairs user trust in the platform, Pachter stated.

Separately, Japanese IT security company Trend Micro Inc. said on Monday that hackers posted two tweets in October to steal data from previously affected machines.

The attackers snuck in commands in tweeted memes that secretly instructed infected devices to send details, including user names, screen images, and other content, according to Trend Micro.

A spokesman for Twitter did not comment on the report.

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