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Rival social networking site hits Twitter with worm
14 Apr 2009An investigation was under way today into how a computer 'worm' was able to strike the Twitter social network over the weekend, its co-founder Biz Stone said.
In his blog, Mr Stone said that Twitter had suffered four separate attacks from a program known as a worm starting on Saturday and ending early yesterday.
It was set up to promote an alternative social networking site, StalkDaily.com, and was designed to automatically reproduce itself once clicked on.
It displayed Twitter messages, known as "Tweets," on infected Twitter accounts, urging people to visit the website.
Nearly 10,000 unwanted Tweets had to be deleted to contain the potential damage.
However, Mr Stone reassured Twitter users that no personal information was stolen during the incidents.
He wrote: "On a weekend normally reserved for bunnies, a worm took centre stage.
"We are still reviewing all the details, cleaning up, and we remain on alert.
"We will conduct a full review of the weekend activities. Everything from how it happened, how we reacted, and preventative measures will be covered."
Michael Mooney, the 17-year-old founder of StalkDaily.com, admitted to creating the malicious worm in an interview with The Associated Press.
The high school student from Brooklyn, New York, said that he wanted to promote his website as well as exposing Twitter's weaknesses.
He said: "I really didn't think it was going to get that much attention, but then I started to see all these stories about it and thought, 'Oh my God,"'
