TimeSpentHere rogue app spreads virally on Twitter

Graham Cluley
@gcluley

Some Twitter users have fallen for yet another rogue application, tricking them into believing that they will discover how many hours they have spent tweeting their little hearts out.

A typical message reads:

WOW –> I have spent 38.1 hours on Twitter! See how much you have: [LINK]

If you are curious enough to click on the link, which – of course – you might do, seeing as it will appear as if one of your Twitter friends has posted it, then you will be asked to authorise a third party app’s request to access your Twitter account.

The app is called TimeSpentHere, and it can only cause a problem for you if you grant it permission to access your Twitter account. If you do, then it will be able to read your Tweets, post in your name, and even change your profile. I’m sure you can imagine the potential for abuse there.

Of course, the very first thing it will do is post a tweet in your name, encouraging your Twitter followers to also click on…

Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.

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Graham Cluley is a veteran of the anti-virus industry having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent security analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of computer security, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter at @gcluley, on Mastodon at @[email protected], or drop him an email.

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