"F Gwenifill" Was Not a Hack. Here's What Really Happened.
It was the surreal result of user error, lax social-media security practices by media companies, and a gaping loophole in Tweetdeck's security features. Here's the full story.
- At about 2 p.m. eastern today, a bunch of prominent Twitter accounts tweeted the same weird thing all at once.
Call your office! pic.twitter.com/SGOJifPELx- People were confused.
Anyone know what is causing this to happen? RT @MatthewKeysLive: Twitter accounts @ZDNet @OnEarthMag also hit by weird "f gwenifill" message
No idea what the "f Gwen Ifill" messages are about. Certainly not generated by anyone here. Apologies for any confusion.- Some made jokes.
Poynter. Now in Welsh. RT @Poynter: f gwenifill- Affected outlets apologized for the "hack."
Sorry for that last tweet everyone (especially @gwenifill!), there was a bit of Twitter hacking going on...
Yep, that weird tweet seems to have come from someone accessing Poynter’s account without authorization. More as we know it.- Clues trickled in.
(In the beginning days of Twitter 'f username' would follow an account. We like @gwenifill. A lot.)- Kate Gardiner, a digital media strategist who has worked with PBS Newshour and Newsweek, among others, stepped forward to say it was her Tweetdeck that had been hacked.
- Mystery solved, right?
Source of "f gwenifill" issue: Newsweek digital strategist @KateGardiner, who had access to client accounts, claims her TweetDeck was hacked- But wait, how did she have access to so many different prominent accounts?
@KateGardiner How many accounts do you tweet from?
@WillOremus only a couple. Had a bunch of old logins / friends' accounts / spoofs /etc.- @moneyries I don't run all that many. Tweetdeck leaves keys in even after you leave the accounts / change the PWs. @DylanByers @Megan
- @MatthewKeysLive I had keys to all sorts of accounts from audits, all sorts of things. @Poynter
- Well that is alarming.One question still unanswered: Who hacked Kate Gardiner's account in the first place, and what did they have against Gwen Ifill?
@KateGardiner how did they do it?
