Pinterest has once again been hacked, with a large number of accounts posting messages related to weight loss across the website and on connected Twitter accounts.
The weight loss messages on the hacked accounts include messages about an Asian fruit that promises to be able to burn fat.
The Pinterest hacked messages spread to Twitter because many users log on to the network using their accounts in other websites such as Twitter.
"The security of Pinners is a top priority. We were alerted to some instances of spam and responded by immediately placing impacted accounts in safe mode, and reaching out to Pinners as we solved the issue. We're constantly working on ways to keep Pinners safe through reactive and proactive steps, as well as educating them on the importance of using complex and unique passwords," a spokesperson for Pinterest said to The Next Web.
Users who had their accounts compromised should immediately change their password on Pinterest. Users should change their password on Twitter too if their Twitter account was affected by the hack.
In addition, if users share their password on a compromised Pinterest or Twitter account with other websites, it will be a good precaution to change the user's shared password among all other websites, as the hacked password may be used to try to access other known websites.
Users should refrain from clicking on spam links that pop up on their browser, as those could be malicious links for hackers to exploit user accounts. Users should also not allow suspicious services and apps to link to their Pinterest accounts.
This latest Pinterest hack is reminiscent of the last round of hacking done on the website back in March. The hack was more offensive in the past though, as it included images of women's butts and other suggestive pictures in addition to weight loss and give away offer messages.
The Better Business Bureaus had already posted a warning at the beginning of March on the increase of spam on Pinterest, which may have prepared users for the hack and spam messages. Pinterest was alerted of the problem and announced that they investigated the security issue, but the website was not able to actively remove the offensive posts because the "Pin this" buttons were hosted on other websites and on the servers of Pinterest.
The biggest social media networks have become the feeding grounds of hackers recently, as the websites are particularly vulnerable because of the web applications that they use.
