- MEMBERS RECEIVE ACCESS TO:
- CIO Leadership Group
  CIO Leadership Task Force provides a unique forum for Chief Information Officers from the largest cities and counties in the U.S. to privately interact, both through an online collaboration site and in regular face-to-face meetings. It offers these leaders an on-going opportunity to share information and experiences, and to discussing IT challenges facing larger community jurisdictions.
- Digital Infrastructure
  Task Force
  The Digital Infrastructure Task Force is a collaborative networking group for government IT professionals. Through timely exchange of information and experiences, both online and through regular face to face meetings, municipal and regional government members help each other to make smarter technology decisions for their communities.
- Law Enforcement
  IT Task Force
  The Law Enforcement Task Force is a collaborative networking group for local law enforcement officials from across the nation. In online and regular face to face meetings, both sworn and civilian law enforcement officials come here to discuss technology trends, collaboration and information sharing opportunities within the local law enforcement community.
- Private Events
  and Webinars
- Exclusive White Papers
- JOIN:
- Public Sector
- Private Sector
Digital Communities Home
Introduction
Feature Articles
Local Government Events
Contact
Digital Communities Blogs
Digital Citizen Pulse
Broadband Nation
Web 2.0 Convergence
In the Trenches
International Beat
Notes from a City CIO
Intelligent Communities
MuniGov 2.0
Surveys and Awards
Digital Cities Survey
Digital Counties Survey
DGAA Awards
Best of the Web Awards
Reference and
Resource Library
White Papers
Exclusives
Webinars
Best Practices
Digital Communities
Special Focus
Current Issue
Past Issues
Subscribe

Digital Communities
Industry Members

Click sponsor logos for whitepapers, case studies, and best practices.

Obama's Twitter Account Hacked

January 6, 2009 By Hilton Collins

Hackers compromised 33 Twitter accounts on Monday, including those of Barack Obama, Britney Spears and Bill O'Reilly, and posted embarrassing and, in some cases, obscene news items, according to multiple news sources and Twitter.

The Washington Times reported that at about 12:30 p.m. EST a message was sent to the president-elect's followers asking them to participate in a survey. The message read, "What is your opinion on Barack Obama? Take the survey and possibly win $500 in free gas." The message contained a link to a two-question survey on another Web site.

Other famous Twitter accounts were also victimized. CNN.com reported that Fox News Twitter followers were greeted with a faux news items declaring that popular news personality Bill O'Reilly was gay. It has since been removed.

Hackers also spread salacious rumors through Britney Spears' and CNN newsman Rick Sanchez's Twitter accounts.

A Jan. 5 post on Twitter's blog titled Monday Morning Madness said, "These accounts were compromised by an individual who hacked into some of the tools our support team uses to help people do things like edit the e-mail address associated with their Twitter account when they can't remember or get stuck. We considered this a very serious breach of security and immediately took the support tools offline. We'll put them back only when they're safe and secure."

This is not the first reported security breach of Obama's data. Newsweek reported in November that an unknown, foreign entity hacked the computer systems and Web sites of Obama and Republican Party candidate John McCain during the presidential campaign.

The hacked Twitter accounts come in the wake of a recent phishing scam that redirected Twitter users to fraudulent links and a bogus Web site.

Twitter is an increasingly popular microblogging service that's free to use. Several state and local government officials and agencies use it to post updates.

Security experts say it's likely Obama will have to give up some of the technological trappings he became accustomed to on the campaign trail. Obama will likely have to hand over his BlackBerry on Inauguration Day. Obama has said he wants to be the first U.S. president to have a laptop on the Oval Office desk.

| More

Twitter Outage Raises Concerns for Government

Add Your Comment

Name *

Comment *

You are solely responsible for the content of your comments. We reserve the right to remove comments that are considered profane, vulgar, obscene, factually inaccurate, off-topic, or considered a personal attack.

In Our Library

White Papers | Exclusives Reports | Webinar Archives | Best Practices and Case Studies

Are You Sure You Are Maximizing the Value of Your Microsoft SharePoint Investment?: The Microsoft SharePoint platform provides a wealth of opportunities for any organization to streamline business processes and expand knowledge sharing; however most government organizations struggle to take advantage of these opportunities.
Hurricane Preparedness: Make sure you are prepared for hurricane season before it is here. Join in this Digital Communities teleconference and gain insight on how to prepare from experts who have been on the ground during major hurricanes.
Government-to-Government IT Services: What Works and What's Left to Work Out: This paper offers some best practices for shared government-to-government services, but also points out challenges that government and industry still must overcome before this model gains widespread adoption.

Latest From Digital Communities Features

Follow @dcommunities

Government Best Practices

Digital Cities & Digital Counties Survey: Best Practice Guide

Real Time for McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator

Public Safety Guide: From Call to Car to Crisis

Public Safety Mobile Apps for 4G Networks

10 Requirements for a Successful Oracle R12 Upgrade

Featured White Papers & Reports

Government-to-Government IT Services: What Works and What's Left to Work Out

This Digital Communities white paper highlights discussions with IT officials in four counties that have adopted shared services models. Our aim was to learn about the obstacles these governments have faced when it comes to shared services and what it takes to overcome those roadblocks. We also spoke with several members of the IT industry who have thought long and hard about these issues. The paper offers some best practices for shared government-to-government services, but also points out challenges that government and industry still must overcome before this model gains widespread adoption.

View Full Library

Events

GTC East

Don't miss this opportunity to see the latest in digital government solutions, keep abreast of current policy issues and network with key government executives, technologists and industry specialists.

View All Events