Twitter becomes the target of state-sponsored hackers

Twitter has become the target of “state-sponsored hackers,” according to warnings the micro-blogging platform sent to some of its users.

Twitter said that it believes only a “small group of accounts” were targeted by the hackers.

It did not provide much additional information on the attack or who may have been involved.

The news comes amid growing fears of hacking activity backed by foreign governments.

A Canadian-based non-profit group called Coldhak posted a copy of the warning it received from Twitter:

“As a precaution, we are alerting you that your Twitter account is one of a small group of accounts that may have been targeted by state-sponsored actors,”

“We believe that these actors (possibly associated with a government) may have been trying to obtain information such as email addresses, IP addresses, and/or phone numbers.”

The message added that there was currently “no evidence that they obtained your account information, but we’re actively investigating the matter.”

The warning Twitter sent to some of its users:

This isn’t the first time that a social media platform has warned users about state-sponsored hackers.

In November the social media giant Facebook warned some of its users working at the U.S. State Department that state-sponsored hackers had compromised their accounts.