Hackers are reportedly exploiting a decade-old flaw to hijack dormant Twitter accounts and spread Islamic State (IS) propaganda. Although Twitter has suspended many of these accounts, some are still active and, are tweeting messages supporting violence, TechCrunch reported on Wednesday.
To take control of the accounts that have remained inactive for years, hackers are exploiting Twitter's legacy lack of email confirmation, the report said. While Twitter introduced the requirement of confirming new accounts through an email address or phone number in June, many older accounts still remain unconfirmed.
As many of the email addresses used to register these accounts either did not exist or expired long ago, hackers are apparently taking control of these accounts simply by creating these email addresses. Twitter said it was trying to find a solution to the problem.