Russian hackers targeted Pentagon workers with malware-laced Twitter messages

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Russia may have used Twitter as a tool of international espionage. An article published today in Time describes an official report that circulated through the intelligence community, claiming agents of the Russian government sent malware-laced Twitter messages to more than 10,000 employees of the US Department of Defense.

“Depending on the interests of the targets, the messages offered links to stories on recent sporting events or the Oscars, which had taken place the previous weekend,” the Time report reads. “When clicked, the links took users to a Russian-controlled server that downloaded a program allowing Moscow’s hackers to take control of the victim’s phone or computer — and Twitter account.”