Twitter worm replicates itself by encouraging users to click on tweet URLs

Worm a problem for Twitter [Sherman on Security]

The popular microblogging service Twitter may now be able to count Oprah Winfrey as a member, but it's still experiencing growing pains as an attractive nuisance for malware programs. Sherman writes about a worm that has infected Twitter, posting updates to infected Twitter accounts that include a link that, when clicked, infects that user's Twitter account.

According to this article, a 17 year-old created the worm to illustrate the shortcomings of Twitter, and it did exactly that. Over 10,000 Twitter updates were posted by the worm, which apparently did not contain any code that attempted to steal confidential personal or financial information. It just lived for the purpose of replicating itself.

Twitter brings a who new battleground to the fight against malware programs. While this one might have been relatively benign, what happens when a group of hackers release a similar worm on Twitter designed to encourage users to click links that launch serious malware programs? In the same way that users shouldn't click on links in email or open email attachments from untrusted sources, links in Twitter messages should be treated the same.