By first taking over Twitter’s internal system, hackers were able to hijack the accounts of many prominent and large companies and then trick money from their followers. It remains to be seen whether the hackers have received help from someone who has been working for the social media company for some time.
–
A similar message asking for donations in bitcoins appeared on the Twitter accounts of a handful of companies such as Apple and Uber on Wednesday, and featured prominent figures such as rapper Kanye West, former President Barack Obama, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and billionaires Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Michael Bloomberg, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk.
The large-scale hacking would have brought the alleged scammers more than $ 100,000 (converted about 87,000 euros), according to news agency Reuters from public blockchain data. Blockchain is a collective log that is used, among other things, for virtual money. About 300 people are said to have been duped, which is still little. After all, the affected accounts reached tens of millions of Twitter users.
Twitter confirmed there was a “security incident” and said it will come up with a solution quickly. As soon as the hack was detected, the affected accounts were immediately locked and the tweets removed, the social media company said. As a precaution, verified accounts were also frozen for a time, preventing many celebrities, journalists, governments, and politicians from sending tweets for a while.
Photo: Twitter
Infiltrant?
According to the company, it was a coordinated attack and workers with access to internal systems and tools were targets. “We know that this access was used to take control of many popular (including verified) accounts and then tweet on their behalf.”
“We are investigating what other malicious activities they have carried out or what information they have consulted,” the company said. The affected accounts are not yet accessible by their rightful owners. “We will only do this when we are sure it can be done safely,” it sounds.
It would be the biggest Twitter hack ever. Ceo Jack Dorsey speaks of ‘a hard day’ at Twitter. “We all feel terrible that this has happened and we are working hard to get everything right.”
According to the digital media platform Vice hackers would have convinced a Twitter employee to help them. An anonymous source told Motherboard, the tech department of Vicethat they paid that person. That an own employee would be involved in the facts has not yet been confirmed by Twitter.
Not the first time
Although the size is strikingly large this time, it is not the first time that Twitter has to deal with hackers. In August last year, Dorsey’s account was hacked. All kinds of racist and insulting messages were posted. And in 2017 a disgruntled ex-employee managed to delete Donald Trump’s account for several minutes.
Wilders’ account also hacked
The account of the Dutch politician Geert Wilders (PVV) was also hacked. It is not clear whether this hack is related to the other hackers. It would have happened around the same time, but no bitcoins were advertised, as was the case with the other accounts. Wilders’ hacked account has retweeted several messages, including tweets calling for ‘FREE PALESTINA’ and tweets with conspiracy theories that include child abuse, Bill Gates and corona vaccines.
–
