I suppose it had to happen, but the ‘Chinese Whispers’ aspect of Twitter was revealed yesterday as a panic was spread about a gunman in Oxford Street, London.
The incident was sparked by a report of a gunman on Oxford Street, which coupled with leaked news of a police training exercise, caused a storm of Twitter messages that warned people to stay indoors.
The roving gunman on the street turned out to be a fashion shoot and the police presence was also misinterpreted. However, the sheer speed and reach of the medium, coupled with the actions of well meaning, if misguided Twitter users, is reported to have caused a near panic in central London.
Now, while this might seem a relatively trivial incident, one need only extrapolate a little to see how such a medium could do some serious damage were one to be of a malicious bent.
Another recent incident, where Z- list celebrity Kenneth Tong appeared to be promoting ‘managed anorexia’, caused outrage and grabbed headlines around the world. Tong persisted in his postings for a few days before claiming the entire thing had been a stunt to win a wager that he could get worldwide publicity within days.
If one thinks about for a moment, it is clear, that this near instantaneous medium with a global reach could easily be manipulated for far greater damage.
It is inevitable that with any new medium, old scams would emerge. So, social engineering using Twitter is already being seen. Celebrities are promoting products and getting paid for it, without declaring so, much to the annoyance of the UK consumer watchdog. But with the level of sophistication being seen in cyber crime of late, it is only a matter of time before mass media manipulation is part of an orchestrated plan.
Say for example, a small botnet is sitting waiting to be used. A few automated Twitter accounts start a rumour that is highly contentious and it is spread far and wide, perhaps driving traffic to a few carefully chosen, compromised sites. The botnet is roused in all its fury to then gather up the infected machines for some nefarious purpose. With its numbers swelled, the botnet may now be poised to launch a DDoS attack at the whim of the bot-herders. The potential for mayhem could be massive.
Cyber criminals in the recent past have been profit driven but increasingly hacking has seen a political motivation creep in, so the targets could be governments and public bodies, as much as commercial entities. Or, such a campaign could be an element of a share ‘pump and dump’ scam.
Steve Jobs recent leave of absence on medical grounds is a good example of the kind of announcement that can be exploited for financial gain. What if the same rumour went out about Steve Ballmer or Larry Ellison? The resultant share fluctuations could be easily exploited.
The reality is that human nature will always prevail, and with any new medium of communication, there will be those who are incredulous until an incident of exploitation generates a bit more cynicism. For now, it seems Twitter has grown to such a level that it is still possible to fool the Twitter-sphere relatively easily. One would hope that those wiser heads who are users prevail before a major exploitation occurs.
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