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BRIEF: TweetDeck goes offline after security issue allows rogue retweets [Star Tribune (Minneapolis) :: ]
[June 11, 2014]

BRIEF: TweetDeck goes offline after security issue allows rogue retweets [Star Tribune (Minneapolis) :: ]


(Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) June 11--TweetDeck has taken itself offline worldwide after a security issue that allowed rogue retweets to appear in some users Twitter streams.

A tweet containing computer code propagated itself through Twitter by taking advantage of a security flaw in Twitter's TweetDeck application.

Initially, TweetDeck asked users to log out and log back in, saying the security issue was resolved, however, midday Wednesday, it posted an update on Twitter saying TweetDeck was taken down "temporarily" to assess the issue.

The @StarTribune account was briefly affected, when it retweeted a code-filled tweet. The source of the problem is thought to be caused by an XSS exploit, based on pop-up windows that cited XSS directly.

TweetDeck is a popular social media dashboard application that allows Twitter users to post updates from multple accounts and to follow tweets organized in columns, sorted by search terms or group lists.



It's not the first time tweets containing JavaScript code have self-propagated through security holes in Twitter. The last major outbreak was in 2010.

The Associated Press contributed information to this report.


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