Android users advised to update Twitter immediately: ITSSL

Twitter users had been asked to update their Twitter Android Apps to prevent hackers to control user's accounts and access personal data, the Information Technology Society Sri Lanka (ITSSL) said.

ITSSL Chairman Rajeev Yasiru Kuruwitage Mathew said the notice had been issued after identifying the security issue which would enable the hackers to break in.

Therefore, the Android Twitter users had requested to download the updated Twitter application to their existing Twitter apps from the Google Play Store as soon as possible to protect their Twitter accounts, he said. “There was no such issue found in the iOS,” Mr Mathew said.

“However, the official Twitter help centre had tweeted that they had found a bug that lets you add multiple animated images to a tweet using Animated PNG files,” he said. "APNGs (Animated Portable Network Graphics (APNG)) files ignore our safeguards and can cause performance issues for the app and your device. Today we’re fixing the bug which will no longer allow APNGs to animate when Tweeted," they said.

That existing APNG files uploaded to Twitter will not be removed, and our teams will look into building a similar feature that’s better for you and your Twitter experience. The help centre said the recently found bug that lets you add multiple animated images to a tweet using Animated PNG files. APNGs ignore our safeguards and can cause performance issues for the app and your device. However, the help centre managed to fix the bug which will no longer allow APNGs to animate when tweeted. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)