Another Twitter Security Issue

Twitter is having issues again. Unfortunately, the problem this time isn’t as obvious as the massive fails that have kept them off-line recently. This time, it’s something way more problematic for you and me and provides another great example of how companies that don’t get social media can hurt themselves. Even companies right at the social media epicenter!
Yesterday, a smart tech person discovered a vulnerability in Twitter. I kind of find it comforting, by the way, that there are good guys out there looking to find these issues so the bad guys can’t exploit them. In any event, the problem is that there’s a bug which permits a bad guy to insert scripting language into a program that creates tweets which can invade your computer. There’s a much better explanation of it here for those of you who care. The thing to know is that like the Ark of the Covenant, if you even look at one of these tweets, your machine is compromised.

Phew!  Exploit found by a white-hat and the world informed.  Problem solved, right?  Not so much.  Twitter never got in touch with the guy other than to comment on his blog that the problem was fixed.  Which, as of this writing, it isn’t.  By the way, it’s only a problem if you use Twitter thought the Twitter client – if you use Tweetdeck or some other platform, you’re fine.

The lessons are obvious:

• Always acknowledge there is a problem, especially one which is already public.  There’s been no statement from Twitter.
• The world is a transparent place – if you say you’ve done something, you really need to have done it!
• Be proactive, both about finding issues yourself and fixing them.  Crowd-sourcing is a wonderful thing but when you need that crowd to trust you and evangelize on your behalf, you need to demonstrate that you’re worthy of it.
• Finally, don’t think no one will notice and that when they do, that they’ll keep quiet.  Connected-ness is what it’s all about – it’s why Twitter exists, right?- so don’t think any of this will go away.

Anyone had a problem due to this situation?  Anything you care to add?