Twitter is laden with nasty Goo.gl links Tuesday

There are a large number of messages floating in Twitterville that are containing only the link “goo.gl/R7f68” and are redirecting anyone who clicks on the link to various malware-laden sites. Most of the messages are coming from spam accounts, but some of the links are coming from users who appear to be genuine, which officials are saying that it’s an indication that there’s a worm spreading and sending the messages from infected accounts.

Additionally, all of the messages containing the malware link appear to be sent from the mobile version of Twitter from mobile.twitter.com and are forcing accounts to post the link to spread the Twitter worm. In some cases, the worm message claims that the afflicted Twitter user has “just found the easiest way to track who follows and unfollows you,” which is an extremely helpful tool for those who are savvy on the social media platform. In other cases, the link is posted without any type of comment.

According to an article on Mashable, The Next Web has traced the origins of the link in the messages, which sends users to a French site (http://artcan-developpement.fr) that has apparently been hacked to forward users to sites containing various malware scripts.
Twitter @support representative, Troy Holden tells TechCrunch.com that Twitter is on the case, “We’re aware and have sent out password resets for affected users. We’ll monitor the situation in case of further iterations.”

In any case, Twitter users are being told to take caution when clicking on suspicious links because it is very likely that the worm will change in the future and to keep their computers protected with antivirus and anti-malware software.