Most of these accounts tweeted some version of the exact same message: If somebody were to send Bitcoin to the address defined in the tweets throughout a 30-minute window, the account owner would return double the quantity. All of the tweets sent out from these prominent accounts directed victims to the same Bitcoin address.
By this point, Twitter had caught on and was attempting to include the account breaches. If the owners of those accounts desired to communicate on the platform, they either had to produce momentary accounts, retweet existing tweets, or both.
At that time, Twitter confirmed that it had opened an investigation into the hack, and one day later, the FBI validated that it was introducing an investigation of its own.
We found what our company believe to be a collaborated social engineering attack by individuals who effectively targeted some of our staff members with access to internal systems and tools.– Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) July 16, 2020
How did these accounts get hacked?
At this time, Twitters examination is still continuous, and there is little in the method of conclusive info. With respect to the hack itself, heres what the company has actually confirmed so far:
Many of these accounts tweeted some variation of the same message: If someone were to send Bitcoin to the address defined in the tweets throughout a 30-minute window, the account owner would return double the amount. If the owners of those accounts desired to interact on the platform, they either had to create momentary accounts, retweet existing tweets, or both. According to unnamed sources who apparently took over some of the accounts themselves, hackers paid off at least one Twitter staff member for access to powerful platform controls.
Motherboards interview exposed the existence of a control panel that specific Twitter workers have access to, which permits them to– amongst other things– alter the email addresses connected to specific Twitter accounts.
Some of its staff members were targeted in a social engineering attack because of their access to “internal systems and tools.” The hackers were able to “take control” of confirmed and high-profile Twitter accounts, and released the fraud tweets “on their behalf” In the wake of the hack, Twitter has actually taken steps to restrict access to the aforementioned internal systems and tools, a minimum of for the duration of the examination.
The @TwitterSupport account has been mainly quiet given that releasing those declarations, however its important to note that some news reports released in the wake of the hack stand at chances with Twitters main narrative.
As pointed out, Twitter said some of its staff members fell victim to a social engineering attack. According to unnamed sources who apparently took over some of the accounts themselves, hackers paid off at least one Twitter worker for access to effective platform controls.
Motherboards interview revealed the presence of a control panel that particular Twitter employees have access to, which enables them to– amongst other things– alter the email addresses linked to particular Twitter accounts. By changing info associated with some of those prominent accounts, the hackers were able to momentarily transfer ownership to themselves.