http://www.maximumpc.com/tags/brute+forcing used for category lists, takes arguments en http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/lame_password_behind_twitter_hack <!--paging_filter--><p>A hacker who uses the pseudonym <a href="http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/01/professed-twitt.html">GMZ accepted responsibility for the recent Twitter hack in an IM interview to Threat Level on Tuesday</a>. He divulged little personal details except that he is an 18-year old student on the East Coast. It is also known that he is a member of the online forum for hackers called Digital Gangster; forum members had claimed that GMZ was responsible for the hack even before the hacker owned up.</p> <p>He revealed that he successfully gained access to the account of a female Twitter staffer named “Crystal.” He had serendipitously stumbled upon her account and had no idea that she was a Twitter staff member with administrative control. He then proceeded to hack her account using a dictionary attack. </p> <p>The program didn’t have to break a sweat as she was using the password “happiness.” Her flimsy password coupled with Twitter’s primeval security, which allows rapid-fire log-in attempts, led to several high profile Twitter accounts, including the ones belonging to President-elect Barack Obama and Fox News, being compromised. </p> <div style="text-align: center"><img src="/files/u46168/twiiterhackfunny.jpg" width="359" height="172" /></div> <p><em>Image Credit: Zdnet </em></p> http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/lame_password_behind_twitter_hack#comments News brute forcing dictionary digital gangster gmz hack Password Software twitter Wed, 07 Jan 2009 09:22:09 -0600 Pulkit Chandna 4771 at http://www.maximumpc.com