For some unexplained reason, pornbot networks just can’t seem to help following people who research botnets. Thanks, @zaraa_xdream_! #TuesdayThoughts
cc: @ZellaQuixote
cc: @ZellaQuixote
@zaraa_xdream_ @ZellaQuixote By searching for other copies of @zaraa_xdream_’s tweets, we were able to round up the other accounts in the network. There are 158 accounts in all, with a naming scheme that would quite frankly have benefitted from a tad more creativity.
@zaraa_xdream_ @ZellaQuixote The accounts have other similarities beyond the naming scheme - all were created in 2019, mostly in batches, similar numbers of followers, very few tweets, and few or no likes.
@zaraa_xdream_ @ZellaQuixote These accounts are not high volume - instead, they activate intermittently and all fire off copies the same tweet, with slight variation in emoji. Despite most of the tweets theoretically being tweeted via the Twitter website, we suspect automation.
@zaraa_xdream_ @ZellaQuixote In keeping with the theme of unoriginality shown by this botnet, profile pics are repeated across accounts. (Although we would not be surprised to find the photos are borrowed, we didn’t manage to track down the original source.)
