Warning To ALL Twitter Users!

lianwei · 04-13-2009, 04:45 AM

There is a worm called MIKEY spreading like a bad-ass virus on twitter now and it is going to take over your account and spam nonsense. You will not notice any change initially until you start to see your background change, your url changes and people are telling you that you are infected.

Here’s how you can fix and save your account from the worm:

1) MOST importantly, change your password immediately!
2) Re-update your usernames, bio and URL etc.
3) Change your background back to the default one that Twitter offers then back to your custom one.
4) Clear your browser history and caches.
5) Restart browser.

This should be able to deter you from the Mikey worm and hope it doesn’t mutate to something scarier. It is into its 4th round of attack already, so please protect yourself now!

Graham Maddison · 04-13-2009, 07:57 AM

Thanks for the heads up.

I have over a 1000 followers and would hate them to think I would spam them.

Cheers,

Graham

lianwei · 04-13-2009, 09:11 AM

Welcome Graham, yeah it would be a nuisance if that happens.. Hope you took your precautions.

Les Tatum · 04-13-2009, 09:34 AM

Thanks for the heads up, it would be really nasty to be spamming all our contacts without even knowing it.Thanks again!

GT · 04-13-2009, 05:12 PM

Hey, Team:

Thanks, Ben, for the heads-up and for your concern and info, here.

Here are a couple of links to news stories that shed more light on the issue and offer some ways to check whether or not your Twitter account is infected:

cnet news: Twitter cleans up after weekend worm attacks | Security - CNET News Twitter cleans up after weekend worm attacks

Twitterism.com: Twitter Worms: How To Tell If You’re Infected | Twittercism How To Tell If You're Infected

Sheamus at Twitterism tells how to do a quick Twitter search to see if you are infectedby mikeyy:

Quote:

If you tweet a lot it may take a while to work back through your timeline. An easier way to do this is to open a search query at Twitter Search. Enter your username and Mikeyy within the search box. For example:

sheamus mikeyy

Again, if you’ve been discussing Mikeyy this will show up in the search. But you’re looking for tweets you did not send. If you see any, then you are infected.

He offers a lot more info, too.

GT

Matt Helphrey · 04-13-2009, 05:42 PM

Thanks Ben

I appreciate everyone here keeping me informed about viruses. I am kind of ignorant when it comes to these kinds of things. I just assume that AdAware will take care of everything if I run it constantly enough. I know from experience now that that is not true.

Best,

Matt

JamesFrancisIM · 04-13-2009, 08:12 PM

Let's hope I get infected.

It'd make me more interesting to my followers!

- James.
P.S. Only joking!

. I think the Twitter crew have started to fix and clean this up now.

Jeff Casmer · 04-13-2009, 09:37 PM

Hi Lian and GT,

Thanks for this information. Didnt know there was one out there till I saw this post....

Take care
Jeff Casmer

GT · 04-13-2009, 10:54 PM

Hi, Jeff:

Looks like Twitter is getting a handle on it and putting checks and balances in place to prevent further occurances. Just one of those learning processes, I suppose. I haven't experienced any problems with either of my Twitter profiles:

- GT Bulmer (gtbulmer) on Twitter
- Green4Life (ThinkGreen4Life) on Twitter

My one concern (for other people) is all of those services that offer to get you 10,000, 20,000, 150,000 followers in 30, 60, 90 days or whatever. When you sign up for those, you have to give them your Twitter ID and password! That sounds a little risky to me!

I question whether those systems work and I wonder if that is how some of the viruses get spread. Maybe I'm wrong. I'm no techie or programmer.

GT

Cynthia Minnaar · 04-14-2009, 12:48 AM

Thanks for this useful information guys - I seem to have escaped it so far.

Cheers for now
Cyn

JamesFrancisIM · 04-14-2009, 07:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GT

My one concern (for other people) is all of those services that offer to get you 10,000, 20,000, 150,000 followers in 30, 60, 90 days or whatever. When you sign up for those, you have to give them your Twitter ID and password! That sounds a little risky to me!

I question whether those systems work and I wonder if that is how some of the viruses get spread. Maybe I'm wrong. I'm no techie or programmer.

GT

Most services on Twitter require those details, as they need those details to access the Twitter API.

However, those services are useless anyway. How many people do you see with 150,000 followers? Very little.

Even so, you'd violate Twitter's spam regulations due to "aggressive following" and your account would be deleted.

- James.

gussie789 · 04-14-2009, 03:11 PM

Thanks for the heads up I really appreciate it.

Petruschko · 04-14-2009, 07:13 PM

Hi all,

I had it, but after a password reset it seems to be ok again...

All the best!

Peter

richardt23476 · 04-15-2009, 11:10 PM

thanks Lianwei for the warning, I will watch out carefully.

Asher · 04-16-2009, 01:03 PM

The worm has been eradicated.

Twitter is safe once more. Go back in and tweet...
Oh you people with no friends.

YouTube - Twouble with Twitters: SuperNews!

Asher

MidMido · 04-17-2009, 04:01 AM

Thanks so much for this notice, I am going to check my account now

04-13-2009, 04:45 AM	#1
lianwei Minisite Designer War Room Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Singapore Posts: 606 Thanks: 0 Thanked 60 Times in 33 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Warning To ALL Twitter Users! There is a worm called MIKEY spreading like a bad-ass virus on twitter now and it is going to take over your account and spam nonsense. You will not notice any change initially until you start to see your background change, your url changes and people are telling you that you are infected. Here’s how you can fix and save your account from the worm: 1) MOST importantly, change your password immediately! 2) Re-update your usernames, bio and URL etc. 3) Change your background back to the default one that Twitter offers then back to your custom one. 4) Clear your browser history and caches. 5) Restart browser. This should be able to deter you from the Mikey worm and hope it doesn’t mutate to something scarier. It is into its 4th round of attack already, so please protect yourself now!
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04-13-2009, 07:57 AM	#2
Graham Maddison Graham Maddison War Room Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Luton, England Posts: 954 Thanks: 223 Thanked 199 Times in 114 Posts Social Networking	Re: Warning To ALL Twitter Users! Thanks for the heads up. I have over a 1000 followers and would hate them to think I would spam them. Cheers, Graham
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04-13-2009, 09:11 AM	#3
lianwei Minisite Designer War Room Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Singapore Posts: 606 Thanks: 0 Thanked 60 Times in 33 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Warning To ALL Twitter Users! Welcome Graham, yeah it would be a nuisance if that happens.. Hope you took your precautions.
	Ben Pei - Visit My Blog @ www.BenPei.com Need A Professional Minisite/Ecover Done At Extremely Cheap Rates? ***PLR Complete Turnkey Package: YOUTUBE Marketing Secrets Exposed*** Limited Copies Only!

04-13-2009, 09:34 AM	#4
Les Tatum The 12th Doctor War Room Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Texas, USA. Posts: 109 Thanks: 12 Thanked 13 Times in 12 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Warning To ALL Twitter Users! Thanks for the heads up, it would be really nasty to be spamming all our contacts without even knowing it.Thanks again!
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04-13-2009, 05:42 PM	#6
Matt Helphrey Advanced Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Nebraska Posts: 962 Thanks: 12 Thanked 144 Times in 51 Posts	Re: Warning To ALL Twitter Users! Thanks Ben I appreciate everyone here keeping me informed about viruses. I am kind of ignorant when it comes to these kinds of things. I just assume that AdAware will take care of everything if I run it constantly enough. I know from experience now that that is not true. Best, Matt
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04-13-2009, 08:12 PM	#7
JamesFrancisIM JamesFrancis.com War Room Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Portsmouth, UK. Posts: 317 Blog Entries: 13 Thanks: 69 Thanked 43 Times in 31 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Warning To ALL Twitter Users! Let's hope I get infected. It'd make me more interesting to my followers! - James. P.S. Only joking! . I think the Twitter crew have started to fix and clean this up now.
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04-13-2009, 09:37 PM	#8
Jeff Casmer Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Chicago Posts: 2,721 Blog Entries: 3 Thanks: 14 Thanked 162 Times in 125 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Warning To ALL Twitter Users! Hi Lian and GT, Thanks for this information. Didnt know there was one out there till I saw this post.... Take care Jeff Casmer
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04-13-2009, 10:54 PM	#9
GT Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Northern Alberta , Canada. Posts: 1,896 Blog Entries: 265 Thanks: 927 Thanked 293 Times in 222 Posts Social Networking	Re: Warning To ALL Twitter Users! Hi, Jeff: Looks like Twitter is getting a handle on it and putting checks and balances in place to prevent further occurances. Just one of those learning processes, I suppose. I haven't experienced any problems with either of my Twitter profiles: - GT Bulmer (gtbulmer) on Twitter - Green4Life (ThinkGreen4Life) on Twitter My one concern (for other people) is all of those services that offer to get you 10,000, 20,000, 150,000 followers in 30, 60, 90 days or whatever. When you sign up for those, you have to give them your Twitter ID and password! That sounds a little risky to me! I question whether those systems work and I wonder if that is how some of the viruses get spread. Maybe I'm wrong. I'm no techie or programmer. GT
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04-14-2009, 12:48 AM	#10
Cynthia Minnaar Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Posts: 1,263 Thanks: 2 Thanked 28 Times in 24 Posts Social Networking	Re: Warning To ALL Twitter Users! Thanks for this useful information guys - I seem to have escaped it so far. Cheers for now Cyn
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04-14-2009, 03:11 PM	#12
gussie789 Active Warrior Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: JAMAICA Posts: 83 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	Re: Warning To ALL Twitter Users! Thanks for the heads up I really appreciate it.
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04-14-2009, 07:13 PM	#13
Petruschko Moneymaking-business.com Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Barcelona, Spain Posts: 10 Thanks: 4 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Warning To ALL Twitter Users! Hi all, I had it, but after a password reset it seems to be ok again... All the best! Peter
	Peter Bott - Follow Me on Twitter! Moneymaking-Business.com

04-15-2009, 11:10 PM	#14
richardt23476 Active Warrior Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 72 Thanks: 2 Thanked 7 Times in 7 Posts Contact Info	Re: Warning To ALL Twitter Users! thanks Lianwei for the warning, I will watch out carefully.
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04-17-2009, 04:01 AM	#16
MidMido The IM Series Creator War Room Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Egypt Posts: 97 Thanks: 30 Thanked 11 Times in 11 Posts Social Networking	Re: Warning To ALL Twitter Users! Thanks so much for this notice, I am going to check my account now