No matter how badly you want to see the “banned Lady Gaga” video, do not click the links floating around Twitter.
The tweets promoting the video are being posted by rogue applications, which when clicked, will open your Twitter account up to cyber criminals.
Users clicking on the link within the tweet are taken to a fake YouTube page where they are asked to authorize a third party connection to their Twitter account.
But by clicking “yes,” the unsuspecting Twitter members are granting hackers access to their account.
The messages vary in exact wording, but all of them promote a “banned” or “prohibited” video of Lady Gaga.
Even Lady Gaga has become a target she says, tweeting, “Whoever is hacking my Twitter must answer to 10 million monsters and Twitter police. #Don’tMakeMeCallTheApostles.”
Fake tweets appeared on Gaga’s account, showing that she too had been attacked. But did she or one of her staffers fall for the bit.ly disguised link? Perhaps.
With over 9.6 million followers, Gaga represents the ultimate target for hackers who hope to spread their scam far and wide.
Sophos Security reminds us that it’s important to be skeptical of exactly which third party apps you give access to your social networks accounts because you never know what’s hiding behind that shortened link.
