TOKYO – This week's Twitter attack that caused a widespread headache for the micro-blogging service appears to have been triggered by a Japanese computer hacker who says he was only trying to help.
The attack, which emerged and was shut down within hours Tuesday morning, involved a "cross-site scripting" flaw that allowed users to run JavaScript programs on other computers. The originator is believed to be someone who uses the name "Masato Kinugawa" in cyberspace and acknowledges creating the Twitter account "RainbowTwtr" that demonstrated the vulnerability. Through his Twitter account and personal blog, Kinugawa regularly tracks down possible computer security loopholes and notifies companies of their existence. Earlier this year, he pointed out several scripting problems to Japanese Internet company Livedoor, which thanked him with a 15,000 yen ($177) gift certificate. Kinugawa says he contacted Twitter about the weakness on Aug. 14 - but in vain. "Twitter had not fixed this critical issue long after it had been notified," Kinugawa tweeted. "Twitter left this vulnerability exposed, and its recognition of this problem was low. Rather than have someone maliciously abuse this under the radar, I decided it would be better to urgently expose this as a serious problem and have it be addressed." For more information visit the below URL: http://news.yahoo.com/s//ap/20100923/ap_on_hi_te/tec_twitter_hack Regards Sandeep Thakur -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "nforceit" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nforceit?hl=en-GB.
