Much like her dislike of Katy Perry or her fondness for cats with human names, Taylor Swift’s technoparanoia is extensively documented. A parody account called InfoSec Taylor Swift was birthed last July, which reimagines Swift as a cybersecurity expert and new-age digital philosopher, while a Rolling Stone profile from this September describes the constant DEFCON-3 level of security around Swift, highlighting her constant paranoia about leaks and bugs. As she puts it: "There's someone whose entire job it is to figure out things that I don't want the world to see." (Also: “Don’t even get me started on wiretaps. It’s not a good thing for me to talk about socially. I freak out.”)
Alas, if the nude photo leaks and Sony hacks weren't enough to convince you, it turns out Swift's privacy concerns were more than justified: This morning, as Swift was frolicking on a Hawaiian beach with the ladies of Haim, her official Instagram and Twitter accounts were co-opted, seemingly by an individual with ties to the hacking group Lizard squad (the same group that hacked Playstation and shut down North Korea’s internet in the fall). The tweets asked her followers to follow two sketchy-looking handles, @lizzard and @veriuser (both since suspended) while the Instagrams pointed people toward accounts called @trash and @clerk, as well as sharing a lewd image. Gawker, meanwhile, has posted screenshots of what appears DMs between her and her friends, including Nick Jonas. While the damage is relatively small, it does represent a substantial breach — Swift has one of the biggest account on Twitter, with over 51 million followers.
Thankfully, Taylor quickly regained control of her handles, rebounding in fine form with all the quintessential hallmarks of the carefully-crafted Swift social media brand. Such as:
A dorky pun:
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Some self-knowing hashtags (#WHO'S PARANOID)
A shoutout to her fab BFFs:
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And some reassurances for her loyal fans:
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InfoSec Taylor Swift weighed in too, naturally:
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Atta girl, Taylor. Shake it off.
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