Be on the lookout, people - there's a new Twitter worm called Twittercut tearing its way through the microblogging platform at an alarming rate. If you've seen some of the people you follow tweeting "OMG I just got over 1000 followers today from http://twittercut.com", they've got the Twittercut worm.

It's an incredibly simple concept. The Twittercut worm preys on Twitter users' desire to quickly increase their follower count, drawing users to a (very sketchy looking) website where they ask you (like almost all Twitter applications) for your Twitter username and password. At that point they automatically post a Tweet to your account, ("OMG I just got over 1000 followers today from http://twittercut.com"), thus effectively spreading the worm on to your followers.

Twittercut's incredibly sketchy website

The worm is spreading quickly, according to Twitter URL tracking service Twitturly, which shows that the message, and the URL to Twittercut's website, has been Tweeted at least a thousand times since it started appearing some hours ago. At that rate, unless Twitter users get the word out, it's going to spread fairly quickly, as different demographics across the globe get online and find all of their friends recommending Twittercut's website.

The Twittercut worm is spreading quickly

If you've been affected by the Twittercut worm, the first and best thing to do is to log on directly to the Twitter.com website and immediately change your password. This will prevent the Twittercut worm from making further Tweets from your account. If you see your friends Tweeting "OMG I just got over 1000 followers today from http://twittercut.com", send them a DM telling them about the worm (or a link to this article!). Only Twitter can spread an entirely social-engineered worm this quickly, and only Twitter can stop its spread as quickly. Vigilance, cooperation and engagement is key.

Twitter is disabling Twittercut accounts as quickly as they can set them up. The scammers have already burned through Twittercut, Tweetcut, and are now broadcasting via Tweetcutt (which we assume will be taken down as soon as Twitter's people are made aware of it). If we continue to engage Twitter actively on this, we have a good chance of stopping this Twitter worm before a significant portion of Twitter users compromise their Twitter credentials.

Get the word out! All you're going to gain from Twittercut is a headache and the scorn of your peers!