It’s understandable when a Twitter account or other social media profile is hacked when a current employee gets their computer or cloud service hacked. It’s unforgivable when the accounts are taken over because a  former employee gets hacked.

Gizmodo learned that lesson the hard way when their account was taken over by “foul-mouthed hackers” as reported by Mike Isaac at AllThingsD:

The technology site Gizmodo’s Twitter account was taken over on Friday evening for a brief period from approximately 5:15 to 5:30 PT. The hijackers appear to be part of a hacking group named “Clan Vv3,” and used the account — which has nearly a half million followers — to post racist and offensive messages. The attackers seem to have gained access after compromising former employee Mat Honan’s e-mail and Twitter account. We’ve reached out to Gawker Media, which owns Gizmodo, for comment.

Businesses should be changing their account passwords often, as much as once a week to be safe. Once a month is a safe amount. Once a quarter is a minimum. More importantly, they should always be changed whenever a high-level person with access to those accounts moves on to another company. This is Social Media 101. Keeping passwords static or using them across multiple channels is an invitation to hackers. While no amount of password changes can make any network completely secure, it’s situations like this that should remind us of the importance of constant diligence when nefarious people ranging from mischievous techno-thrill-seekers to corporate saboteurs are on the loose.

* * *

“Hacker” image courtesy of Shutterstock.