The most followed account on Twitter has been hacked

Social media accounts get hacked all the time, but last night the victim list included the current most-followed (at 89 million, the @Twitter account itself only has 55 million) Twitter user: Katy Perry. After briefly spewing a few vulgar and racist tweets the incident was quickly cleaned up, with no indication of exactly what went down. The first tweet indicating anything was amiss pointed to a still-active account (@sw4ylol) that posted a few email screenshots, while also dismissing a claim the hack occurred as a result of an old MySpace leak. The pictures posted included password resets (with one by Twitter itself) and the screenshot of a SoundCloud takedown notice for a song "Witness 1.3" that could be an unreleased track.

Whatever happened, it should be a good reminder to all about protecting our online accounts: enable two-factor authentication where possible, make sure your email and phone number info is up to date, disconnect unused/shady apps and make sure password reset questions aren't too easy to guess. We've contacted Twitter about the incident and will update this post if there is a response.