Hackers Take Over Spears, DeGeneres Twitpic Accounts

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 29, 2009 - 7:20am.

Los Angeles - Hackers took over the Twitpic accounts of celebrities Britney Spears and Ellen DeGeneres over the weekend, and sent false posts that included one stating that Spears had died, the Associated Press reported.

Twitpic operates a photo-sharing website that users of the Twitter microblogging service utilize to share short links to photos.

Charleston, S.C.-based Twitpic reportedly shut down part of its service, stating that it was "implementing a fix immediately" to address the "vulnerability."

The company could not be reached for comment by AP.

The Twitpic shenanigans follow several reports of impostor Twitter accounts, prompting the company to announce plans to implement a verification service for celebrities, athletes and others who might be subject to impostors.

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/l4bdz (AP)

http://www.twitpic.com