Reuters.
A massive hack has hit Twitter with many verified users accounts used to push a bitcoin scam. Reuters. Many celebrities and politicians, including presidential candidate Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama, Kim Kardashian, Kanye West and Elon Musk, had their accounts used. The tweets said that for a $1000 bitcoin donation they would double their money. In response Twitter took the extraordinary step to lock verified accounts from posting. It is unlikely that the individual accounts were hacked, with a system wide problem being much more likely. Experts speculate that the true goal of the hack may have been the user data from the verified user with the bitcoin scam being a distraction.
My Comment:
What an embarrassment for Twitter. If there is one thing that Twitter needs it's verified users. Those are the moneymakers for the company and if their accounts aren't secure. Those people may now decide that their accounts aren't safe and either leave the platform or join some other network.
I do think it's pretty funny that anyone actually fell for this scam. I have seen verified accounts give away money but they don't do it this way. No charitable cause is going to request money before giving you money. That's such a stupid scam, I don't really understand how anyone could fall for it. I know these were politicians and celebrities, but still.
I think the experts are right for once. I really doubt that this bitcoin scam was the true purpose of this. They only got a limited amount of money (the Reuters article said $100,000 but I have heard as much as $1 million) and they took a massive amount of risk. Every federal law enforcement agency is going to be after this guy(s) and the tech companies are going to be united against them.
So what was the real goal? I think there are a couple of possibilities. This could be a blackmail scam against the verified users. I am sure that there could be a lot of damaging things in these users direct messages and they might pay a lot of money to get that information back. They could also use the data they stole to gain access to other accounts those people have.
The other option is that these hackers want the information to come out. It's possible that this will turn into another Wikileaks style mass release. Given the high profile of these users it's possible that they have major information that could effect the next election. This is my personal hope as I am sick of the rich and powerful being able to hide their actions.
So who is responsible? My guess is that it could be a state actor. China is the most likely suspect as they are basically in a cold war with the United States. Russia is a possibility but their ability to hack things has been greatly exaggerated.
It's also possible that it was a Twitter insider. Given how horribly biased the company is it's very likely that there are people with the motive and opportunity to pull this hack. And given that the targets are mostly left wingers it's possible that it's a disgruntled conservative looking to get back at the company.
Regardless of who is responsible for this, it might be the beginning of the end of Twitter. If they can't even protect their most important users, why should those users stay? Indeed, I think much of the reason why people haven't moved to Gab or Parler is because the cost of moving is high. But now that the verified users are being attacked like this why not move?
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