‘We’re Embarrassed’: Twitter Says High-Profile Hack Hit 130 Users



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Twitter says it is «embarrassed» about the cybersecurity breach earlier this week that targeted several of its most prominent users.

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Leon Neal/Getty Images


Technology
Twitter Says It Was The Victim Of A ‘Coordinated Social Engineering Attack’

Along with West and the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, the accounts of former President Barack Obama and billionaire businessmen Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos — among others — all tried to coax Bitcoin payments from followers with a fake pledge to double their money in return.

Even major companies such as Uber and Apple were co-opted into the scam.

Within hours, Twitter had removed the posts and even temporarily blocked verified accounts from tweeting or having their passwords reset.

Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Kanye West, Uber, Apple and other high profile accounts were hacked by Bitcoin scammers. pic.twitter.com/9WAtTjFJMj

— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) July 15, 2020

Twitter officials now say they have a better idea of what happened in the first place. In a lengthy statement, the company laid out what its probe has turned up so far:

«The attackers successfully manipulated a small number of employees and used their credentials to access Twitter’s internal systems, including getting through our two-factor protections. As of now, we know that they accessed tools only available to our internal support teams to target 130 Twitter accounts. For 45 of those accounts, the attackers were able to initiate a password reset, login to the account, and send Tweets.»

There is a lot speculation about the identity of these 8 accounts. We will only disclose this to the impacted accounts, however to address some of the speculation: none of the eight were Verified accounts.

— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) July 18, 2020

In some cases, company officials added, the as-yet unidentified attackers tried to sell usernames. The company said it is «working with law enforcement» and will continue its investigation into the incident.

«We’re acutely aware of our responsibilities to the people who use our service and to society more generally,» the company said. «We’re embarrassed, we’re disappointed, and more than anything, we’re sorry.»

  • cybersecurity
  • Twitter



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