An obnoxious computer program that barged into Twitter Inc.’s mishmash of Internet chatter served as another reminder of the challenges facing the rapidly growing service.
The nettlesome program, known as a worm, targeted Twitter’s network with four different attacks starting early Saturday and ending early Monday, according to Twitter co-founder Biz Stone.
The worm was set up to promote a Twitter knockoff, StalkDaily.com. It displayed unwanted messages on infected Twitter accounts, urging people to visit the Web site.
The worm was designed to automatically reproduce itself once its links were clicked on, but it didn’t filch any personal information from the more than 6 million people with Twitter accounts, Stone wrote in a posting about the incident. Nearly 10,000 Twitter messages, known as “tweets,” had to be deleted to contain the potential damage.
“We are still reviewing all the details, cleaning up and we remain alert,” Stone reassured Twitter’s audience.
Michael “Mikeyy” Mooney, a 17-year-old high school student who created StalkDaily, acknowledged unleashing the worm in a Monday interview with The Associated Press. Besides wanting to promote his Web site, Mooney said he wanted to expose Twitter’s weaknesses.
“I really didn’t think it was going to get that much attention, but then I started to see all these stories about it and thought, ‘Oh my God,’ ” said Mooney, who lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. He first confessed his responsibility for the worm to BNONews.com.
Mooney began having second thoughts about what he had done after reading a part of Stone’s posting indicating that Twitter might pursue legal action against its tormenter. In a Monday e-mail sent to the AP, Stone said he didn’t know whether Twitter will go after Mooney.
“If I get hit with a lawsuit, I am going to have major regrets and a big brick on my back,” Mooney said. “I am backing off now….