Things were looking tough for Twitter earlier this week, after last week's phishing scam and the breach of security earlier this week that left 33 high-profile Twitter accounts compromised.

Now that details of the hack are surfacing, though, it's looking even more embarrassing.

According to Wired's Threat Level blog, the hacker was an 18-year old who goes by GMZ, and his weapon of choice was a simple brute force dictionary hack.

Exploiting lax security protocols, the hacker was able to repeatedly flood Twitter's servers with login attempts using passwords garnered from a simple dictionary file. He didn't even have to go far - the password, as it turns out, ironically, was "happiness."

The details of the rudimentary hack reveal a startling lack of essential security within Twitter's halls, and raises eyebrows about the potential for Twitter to be marketed as an internal collaboration tool for business use. The so called dictionary-hack has been a mainstay of hackers for decades, and the servers should have been configured to recognize the repeated login attempts. A lack of strong password enforcement (ensuring that passwords are complex) and a failure to "lock out" accounts after multiple failed attempts are a breeding ground for would be hackers and crackers - with a situation like that, it was only a matter of time.

Perhaps this is a blessing in disguise. Twitter will certainly have to up the ante on their security protocols, and it's fortunate that it happened before Twitter made the move to monetize, rather than during. This will give them a chance to shore up their defenses before it costs them actual revenue, and on the bright side, at least the prankster had a sense of humor.

Note: A Youtube Video of the hack has been posted online - although the quality isn't the best, the process is quite clear.