Twitter issued a warning this morning that some user accounts may have been part of a state-sponsored hack attack. The company issued these warnings to a small group of people and organizations after discovering that various accounts might have been hacked.

Twitter states that private information might have been taken along with some other person details like bank account information and addresses.

Why these accounts have been hacked into is anyone’s guess at the moment, and various organization that were impacted have told press that business does not seem to be different as of this writing (or that the hack went largely unnoticed).

People Backing Away From Social Media

It’s hard to guess and estimate why hacks such as this one happen, and it can be dangerous to do so as well, which is why I will refrain from making such judgements. But what is clear from recent social media activity (not just on Twitter but on sites like Facebook as well) is that many people have started to avoid social media sites. One possible reason for this is that many are wary of government sponsored attacks and hacks, and people also want to keep information more private.

In a time where anything that you write online could potentially mean that your life or the lives of people you love are in danger, it makes sense that many would want to stay clear of any site that does broadcast public details. The various people that were part of this recent Twitter attack have stated that the hack didn’t impact activity much, but this may not be the case.

Why State Sponsored Attacks Happen

Twitter has long taken a strong stand against divulging any user information to government sources. Thus, governments have to hack into user accounts in order to gain these details. Since Twitter has been used as a tool for terrorism recently, government hackers might be watching those people that are considered dangerous via sites like Twitter.

But who or what is really dangerous, and do governments have the right to tap into private social media accounts? A number of activist groups have stated that governments have no right to dig for personal information from social media sites, while others have stated that it is the responsibility of social media companies to make sure all users are abiding by rules and are not a threat to security. So who’s right?

Your Account

Chances are that your Twitter account has not been hacked, since this incident has impacted a small number of Twitter users. If you do notice that anything is unusual today when using Twitter, it might be a good idea to contact the social media company to see whether or not your account might have been impacted.

Again, though, there’s a slim chance that your Twitter account was a part of this hack. For those people’s accounts that were hacked into, there’s nothing to be done at the moment. Twitter is working on figuring out where the hacks have come from and what to do about it.