[View the story "Hackers take on Twitter: Tweeps tweet news of attack" on Storify]

Hackers take on Twitter: Tweeps tweet news of attack

Twitter notified 250,000 users that hackers may have had access to their names, email addresses and passwords. In details posted on Twitter's website, the company said it had notified all those affected by the hack.

Storified by Maclean's Magazine· Sat, Feb 02 2013 02:47:30

Twitter hacked; 250,000 accounts affected, social network says. http://on.cnn.com/11ef0xuCNN Breaking News

Quarter of a million Twitter users have their personal data stolen by hacker… #MailOnline http://bit.ly/UcaNru http://pic.twitter.com/ZTK086AZGaryFoster

Twitter says it has contacted the 250,000 account users and reset the stolen passwords:

Keeping our users secure: http://blog.twitter.com/2013/02/keeping-our-users-secure.htmlTwitter

...great..one of the the 250,000 twitter accounts that was potentially hacked.. #twitterhacked.. http://pic.twitter.com/fhQGnJH3Anh Nguyen

Reaction to the news was swift and predictable. To sum up the general themes: 1. Holy sh-t. 2. How does this affect me?

250,000 Twitter accounts compromised in sophisticated cyber attack. http://rt.com/news/twitter-accounts-hacked-compromised-282/ http://pic.twitter.com/S6qHrgNTNightshade

Twitter hacked? Was I among them? Did I say anything interesting?jekewa

I was one of the 250k hacked Twitter users. The service handled it well. But grateful my Twitter password was single use.Matt Compton

I appreciate the quick action and proactive account changes from @Twitter around the attempted hack. Thank you!David Bradfield

Tweeps also took to Twitter to disassociate with broadcasts about body fat:

K someone seriously hacked my account is there a virus going around cause im not the one posting about body fat!Nothing Like Us

Um did you get hacked? o.o or am I just getting spammed lol http://pic.twitter.com/PDQgVzGJZenaida

Back on Twitter. No, I did not tweet about weight loss. Thank you, hacker. http://pic.twitter.com/91lZPFjzKristina M. Anderson

Others cracked wise, or else worried that they had NOT been hacked:

Hack my Twitter please lol I'm so boringRuby

what, my twitter account isn't good enough to hack? #wtfAaron Coles

Why we gotta hack twitter? That’s like bullying a kid for lunch money.Ryan

With the report of Twitter being massively hacked, I'm sure glad I stopped storing my credit card numbers here.Kevin Leroux

Not sure mine is one of the 250,000 hacked twitter accounts, but I do feel a strange urge to put on a bikini and give away iPads.James Martin

Get the Best of Maclean’s straight to your inbox.