Credit: http://www.adnetworksolutions.co.uk/twitter-ceo-steps-down-snoop-dogg-to-take-charge/
“Spain Squad;” does the name sound familiar to you? Well, they are a group of hackers claiming to have devised a new method of reactivating banned or suspended Twitter accounts. After reviving the accounts, the group then put them up for sale on the social network, reports the Business Insider .
Some of the banned or suspended accounts, which “Spain Squad” claimed to have gained access to include; @Hell, @Hitler, @Nazi, @ak47, and @1337.
Of course, there are loads of reasons to be worried about as the report suggests that several of the handles being held by the group were previously suspended by Twitter. These handles include @Hitler , @Hell , and @LizardSquad . Recall that they (handle) once belonged to the infamous hacking group with a similar name.
Reviving suspended or banned Twitter accounts brings another worrisome dimension to online security. Usually, when an account is either banned or suspended, the personalities behind them sign up with another name. This is based on the fact that suspended accounts remain permanently unavailable. The affected individual knows this quite clearly, and hence the resolve to sign up with a new name or handle.
Another worrying issue is how the group was able to revive dormant or inactive accounts. An inactive Twitter handle should be permanently unavailable to anyone since they remain in Twitter’s database. One issue the microblogging outfit should be seriously looking at is how those handles were taken over despite not being deleted by the original owners.
Lately, Twitter intensified its war against harassment and troll on its network. In August, the company wielded the big hammer when it suspended 235,000 accounts for violating its policy. The company followed the action with a statement where it reiterated its commitment to blocking or suspending any user that violates its policy:
“In order to protect the experience and safety of people who use Twitter, there are some limitations on the type of content and behavior that we allow. All users must adhere to the policies set forth in the Twitter Rules. Failure to do so may result in the temporary locking and/or permanent suspension of account(s).”
Accounts suspected of violating the platform’s policy are being suspended virtually every day, but this has not affected the growing rate of harassment being experienced by users. According to the company, daily suspensions of accounts are up by 80% since 2015.
“Daily suspensions are up over 80 percent since last year, with spikes in suspensions immediately following terrorist attacks. Our response time for suspending reported accounts, the amount of time these accounts are on Twitter, and the number of followers they accumulate have all decreased dramatically,” Twitter said .
How “Spain Group” was able to do this is beyond anyone’s guess at the moment. Looks like only the group can explain how access to this vital information was obtained. However, the usual suspect could be a compromised staff account or some kind of vulnerability in Twitter software.
No official statement has been issued by Twitter as at the time of writing this, but we expect further development to follow this.