Twitter issues warnings of ´state-sponsored hacking´

WASHINGTON: Twitter has warned some of its users that their accounts on the messaging platform may be the target of "state-sponsored hackers."

It was unclear how many users received the warnings, which were issued over the weekend and were the first of their kind for Twitter.

Coldhak, a Canadian-based non-profit group, posted a copy of the warning that Twitter sent them.

We received a warning from @twitter today stating we may be "targeted by state-sponsored actors" pic.twitter.com/oZm83eVFC5

— coldhak (@coldhakca) December 11, 2015

"As a precaution, we are alerting you that your Twitter account is one of a small group of accounts that may have been targeted by state-sponsored actors," read the message.

"We believe that these actors (possibly associated with a government) may have been trying to obtain information such as email addresses, IP addresses, and/or phone numbers."

The warning said that there was currently "no evidence that they obtained your account information, but we´re actively investigating the matter."

Twitter said that it had no further information it could provide "at this time." The first of the Twitter warnings were issued on Friday, AFP reported.

Twitter has been sending these warning to those it suspects may have been at risk. Earlier in February 2013, Twitter send a warning to as many as 200,000 users that that their passwords and email addresses may have been compromised.

The warning comes after Facebook and Google implemented protocols to warns users. Both companies have features that warn users if they suspect government hackers are trying to break into their accounts.

Interestingly, while it may not be the same case, Geo News and its employees have also been victims of hacking recently. Leading talk show host and senior journalist Hamid Mir, Director News Geo News Rana Jawad and prime time newscaster Muhammad Junaid all had their accounts hacked recently with the hacker then posting tweets from their accounts and using their massive following to further project his own account.

Geo News’ official twitter handles for English and Urdu were also hacked by the same hacker.