Twitter says governments are hacking its users – are you affected?

Are intelligence agencies trying to sneak down your digital chimney this Christmas?

Twitter is now warning users if their accounts are being targeted by government hacking attempts.

Several users have reported receiving notices from Twitter revealing attacks on their accounts, as reported by the Telegraph.

According to the report, a number of the users allegedly targeted work in the cybersecurity field.

It’s not clear which countries were responsible for the attacks, but the report notes China, Russia, North Korea, and America as likely suspects.

One Canadian non-profit organisation dedicated to “privacy, security, and the freedom of speech” posted the notice to its Twitter page:

https://twitter.com/statuses/675443513367007232

Twitter’s move mirrors a new approach taken by Facebook earlier this year.

In October, Mark Zuckerberg’s social network pledged to notify users if their accounts were targeted by an attacker suspected of working on behalf of a nation-state.

Here’s what the Facebook notification looks like:

“While we have always taken steps to secure accounts that we believe to have been compromised, we decided to show this additional warning if we have a strong suspicion that an attack could be government-sponsored,” wrote Alex Stamos, Facebook’s Chief Security Officer, at the time.

He added: “We do this because these types of attacks tend to be more advanced and dangerous than others, and we strongly encourage affected people to take the actions necessary to secure all of their online accounts.”

It’s also worth noting that Google has been offering a similar service since 2012.