Anonymous (Photo credit: Schuilr)

How Twitter Hacks Cause Big Problems

On Tuesday, April 23, 2013, the Twitter account for the Associated Press was hacked; whether the hack was the result of malicious intent or a practical joke gone sour, the impact was widespread and potentially dangerous. With the AP's Twitter hacked, someone got instant access to an audience of over 880,000 people. In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings, the hackers chose to spread more terror.

The hackers tweeted about a fictional White House bombing and claimed that the President had been hurt. The Internet responded with an uproar as news organizations and homegrown Twitter journalists re-tweeted or investigated the claim. Although it was a single sentence in a myriad of Internet data, the tweet was enough to cause panic and reduce the stock market by over a hundred points.