>>However, Mooney said he released the second worm exploiting the original flaw Sunday morning, after Twitter claimed to have closed the holes. He also said that he had not yet been contacted by Twitter representatives.
...But I'm sure their lawyers will be 'tweeting' him soon...
Teen takes responsibility for Twitter worms
Summary
A 17-year-old claims credit for circulating two worms on Twitter because he was bored and wanted to draw attention to the Twitter flaw.
Topics
As a second Twitter exploit began circulating on the micro-blogging site Sunday, a teenager from Brooklyn told CNET News he created both worms because he was bored and wanted to draw attention to the Twitter flaw.
Much like Saturday's StalkDaily worm, the "Mikeyy" worm posts unwanted messages to users' pages. The "Mikeyy" worm began spreading on the micro-blogging site early Sunday, posting messages such as "Mikeyy I am done...," "MikeyyMikeyy is done.," and "Twitter please fix this, regards Mikeyy."
Brooklyn resident Michael "Mikeyy" Mooney, 17, told CNET News in an interview that he created the worm "out of boredom."
"I thought about it later and basically did it because I was bored," he said. "And I didn't think Twitter would fix (the flaw) very soon. But I didn't think it would spread as far or as fast as it did."
Mooney, a high school senior who said one day he hopes to get a job as a security analyst, said he has been creating worms for about three years. He added that the worms he creates aren't designed to do much damage but that this will likely be his last worm.
"I'm done with Twitter," he said, adding that he was feeling a bit overwhelmed. "I've been getting too much attention lately."
Mooney said his site has has been live to the public for about two weeks and has 905 members, but that it "is growing quickly because of the worm."
The messages circulating Saturday promoted StalkDaily.com, a short-messaging site similar to Twitter. While initially denying any responsibility for the worm, StalkDaily.com posted a message saying, "I have came clean and have accepted the responsibility for the worm..."
Twitter said it has closed the hole that allowed the worm to spread.
"We've taken steps to remove the offending updates, and to close the holes that allowed this 'worm' to spread," Twitter said in a statement Saturday. "No passwords, phone numbers, or other sensitive information were compromised as part of this attack."
However, Mooney said he released the second worm exploiting the original flaw Sunday morning, after Twitter claimed to have closed the holes. He also said that he had not yet been contacted by Twitter representatives.
This article was originally posted on CNET News.
Talkback Most Recent of 6 Talkback(s)
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Jack51613th Apr 2009 -
hopes to get a job as a security analyst
My nephew wants to go into law enforcement. Maybe I
should tell him to skip the college degree and start
robbing banks?
cwallen19803@...13th Apr 2009 -
Or...
You should tell him that he should go over a bank's security systems, find the flaws, and tell the bank how to fix them. I see this kind of white hat hacking as a good thing, sending twitter a letter saying "I could hack your system" would either be ignored or get you prosecuted. Hacking their system and inserting a message that says "I hacked your system, find me so I can tell you how to fix it" is a lot better than waiting for someone with malicious intent to find the same flaw before it's fixed.
I'll bet this lands him a job, especially since it's gained media attention.
edwards.wb13th Apr 2009 -
I agree
To be effective at preventing cybercrime a security specialist has to understand the mind of the bad guy, he obviously does. I seriously doubt Twitter would have done anything to fix their security issues unless they were forced to. It seems to be a common practice with pretty much everybody. Don't fix it until you have to.
fredh@...14th Apr 2009 -
RE: Teen takes responsibility for Twitter worms
The time has come to start cutting off the fingers of these hoodlems. I hope that if he ever gets a job, that he spends the rest of his life paying off a huge fine from the Gov and a suit from the company. Bored... I would give him bored. The internet is under constant attack from jacka$$es doing what ever they want without penelty. ENOUGH!
mosobczak@...14th Apr 2009 -
PMS'ing today
Now grant it, what he did was wrong, but on the contrary companies need to update and patch their coding. Just like MS who has exploits that have yet to be patched, sometimes it takes someone to exploit it, to get the companies AZZ in gear and fix their software.
And they only get away with it, if they don't get caught. But the thing about doing something illegal, is the want of getting some noteriety. They all brag to someone about how they wrote this code, and how many machines get infected. As soon as there is a reward, they are caught.
xXSpeedzXx14th Apr 2009
Talkback - Tell Us What You Think
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