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Cybercriminals have been using popular micro-blogging service Twitter as their command-and-control centre for botnets.

A network of infected PCs was being given instructions via a rogue Twitter account, security researchers said.

"Basically, what it does is use the status messages to send out new links to contacts. These contain new commands or executables to download and run," said Jose Nazario of Arbour Networks.

The account, or 'bot-herder', has now been shut down.

"This appears to be the first time Twitter has been used as part of a botnet's command and control structure. At time of writing, the malicious account has already been taken offline," security firm F-Secure wrote in its blog.
The discovery again raises questions about the security of Twitter, after confidential information about the company was accessed by hackers and passed on to the press recently.