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Twitter: Serious Flaw

Twitter, the popular short message service has a serious flaw that can impact your feeds and timelines. If you tweet accept @k_avinash, you will automatically be added to that persons follow list.
What exactly does this mean?  It means that anyone can force themselves into your “follow” list without your approval.  No longer do you have control over whom you will follow or who is posting information to your feeds. This works with both native and third party clients.
If a spammer were to exploit this flaw, the results could be devastating to the Twitter service.  A simple script could easily force a spammer's message into thousands of feeds.  A tactic such as this could render the service useless if it becomes overwhelmed with spam. Malicious users could also use it to DM spam users with links and tweets.
Twitter has confirmed they are working on a fix for the issue. All users are currently displaying "0 followers" at present.

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Post adapted from Neowin. Image credit goes to @k_avinash
Direct update from Twitter:
Follow bug discovered, remedied. We identified and resolved a bug that permitted a user to “force” other users to follow them. We’re now working to rollback all abuse of the bug that took place. Follower/following numbers are currently at 0; we’re aware and this too should shortly be resolved.
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Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 10, 2010 at 11:38 PM

    Twitpocalypse!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMay 10, 2010 at 11:38 PM

    twitter isn't the end of the world. go enjoy the outdoors & stop bitching about your followers =)

    ReplyDelete
  3. mashableMay 10, 2010 at 11:40 PM

    I have no followers...It's the end of the world! I'm alone and miserable again. HELLO...hello...hello (echoes through the empty void)

    ReplyDelete
  4. mashableJanuary 20, 2011 at 1:01 PM

    I have no followers...It's the end of the world! I'm alone and miserable again. HELLO...hello...hello (echoes through the empty void)

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousJanuary 20, 2011 at 1:01 PM

    twitter isn't the end of the world. go enjoy the outdoors & stop bitching about your followers =)

    ReplyDelete

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