Tweeters reveal personal details including email addresses

More than 11,000 email addresses were published on Twitter over a 24-hour period.

According to investigate by Websense Security Labs, users of the microblogging website are putting themselves vulnerable to phishing scams by broadcasting their personal details, with some publicly sharing social media identities and checking account details.

Its geo-targeted searches found that during London alone, greater than 30 email addresses were shared every hour. This research was conducted in January 2011, and business leaders, journalists and celebrities were all found to be publicly sharing the info.

Carl Leonard, security research manager at Websense Security Labs, said: “Twitter users blindly think that email addresses are safe for public consumption. However, by publicly tweeting your email, you're connecting it along with your name, location and knowledge in your social graph.

“Criminals can exploit this wealth of data by directing waves of highly targeted phishing attacks at individuals or businesses, masquerading as users' friends or associates to encourage them to click malicious links.

“Together this selection of data may additionally allow criminals to compromise email accounts, paving the way in which for further malicious activity including accessing bank accounts, harvesting additional passwords and launching major spam campaigns.

“Businesses employing social media to speak with customers should consider easy methods to be sure that employees are shielded from these new threats. Employers should re-evaluate acceptable use policies to deter staff from sharing email addresses on Twitter.”

Websense claimed that Gmail, Hotmail and other free web-based email services are particularly under threat, as attackers can harvest social information on individuals via Twitter to wreck into these accounts.

It recommended using direct messages (DMs) for sending email addresses to contacts on Twitter, and to update acceptable use policies to warn employees about sharing email addresses.