Antiphishers Anti-Phishers Anti-phishing

British politicians were among those caught up in the latest Twitter-based scam which hijacks users' accounts to send out sexually explicit messages to friends and followers.

The micro-blogging Web site has been hit by a wave of so-called "phishing scams," which lure users to a bogus Web site where they're enticed to part with their passwords. The compromised accounts are then used to distribute rogue messages to other users.

British energy minister, were surprised by a message carrying an unusually direct reference to the politician's sex life. "Oh dear it seems like I've fallen victim to twitter's latest 'phishing' scam," Miliband said in a message posted shortly afterward.

House of Commons leader Harriet Harman told lawmakers her account had sent a bogus message to opposition lawmaker Alan Duncan. Other prominent politicians and journalists were among those who received the rogue messages. Even tech-savvy Twitter users have been hit. Intel UK, the British arm of the chip maker, apologized to its followers Thursday after saying its account had been hacked.