Network Security, Threat Management

Teenage Dream, turned nightmare: Hacker breaks into Katy Perry’s Twitter account

A hacker just went after the biggest target on all of Twitter, breaking into the account of singer-songwriter Katy Perry, whose 89 million followers make her the most popular presence on the entire social media platform.

According to multiple news reports, including one from CNBC, Perry's account was hijacked over Memorial Day weekend, as evidenced by a series of unauthorized tweets containing offensive slurs, and one that tagged fellow artist Taylor Swift with the message “miss u baby.” (Perry and Swift are known for their long-running feud.)

The hack appears to be linked to a Twitter user with the account name @sw4ylol, and while the initial tweets were promptly deleted, the attacker then later tweeted a link to a track on the music distribution platform SoundCloud.

Bradley Barth

As director of community content at CyberRisk Alliance, Bradley Barth develops content for SC Media online conferences and events, as well as video/multimedia projects. For nearly six years, he wrote and reported for SC Media as deputy editor and, before that, senior reporter. He was previously a program executive with the tech-focused PR firm Voxus. Past journalistic experience includes stints as business editor at Executive Technology, a staff writer at New York Sportscene and a freelance journalist covering travel and entertainment. In his spare time, Bradley also writes screenplays.

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