Obama's Twitter account 'hacked'

A French man has been arrested for targetting the Twitter accounts of Barack Obama and showbiz personalities like Britney Spears.

The hacker was an unemployed 25-year-old man who went by the online name of HackerCroll. He managed to gain access to passwords of Twitter administrators and used those to try and break into the accounts of US politicians and stars.

French police captain, Adeline Champagnat said: "He didn't get as far as their personal accounts. But he had gained control of Twitter. He could have cancelled an account.

"In his matter, his aim wasn't to make money. It was simply to show that he was able to access accounts of Twitter members. And the best proof of that is that he did screen grabs of certain confidential data which he tried to post on blogs that are reserved for pirates or hackers."

She said the FBI tipped off the French police in July 2009 that one or more people were trying to get access to Twitter and had gained control of the social network, giving them the possibility to create and delete accounts or to steal confidential information.

The hacker is currently under arrest in the central French town of Clermont Ferrand.