More than a Hundred Twitter Accounts Target by Cyber Attack
Social networking giant, Twitter announced late yesterday that around 130 user accounts were targeted by a cyber-attack. Users of the platform were shocked to know about the incident with the accounts of prominent personalities and even organizations.
The technology company was breached by hackers who access its internal systems to control the said accounts.
Among the hacked users includes former President Barack Obama, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and US Presidential Candidate Joe Biden.
Celebrities like American rapper Kanye West and TV reality star Kim Kardashian were targeted by the attack too.
The accounts of prominent businessmen such as Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffet, and Bill Gates were hacked. Lastly, major the accounts of major corporations like Uber Technologies and smartphone giant Apple were also hijacked.
According to recent technology news reports, the hackers used the accounts to solicit digital currencies.
In Twitter’s latest statement, it said that cyber groups have acquired control over a “small subset” of their target accounts.
The social networking company then said that it will continue to investigate whether the hackers attained private information.
Aside from that, the Twitter ensured the account owners that it will be working with them to solve the breach.
Sources say that the FBI’s San Francisco division is now leading the investigation about the matter. And lawmakers from Washington are calling for an accounting of how the attack happened.
The law enforcement agency said that upon initial investigations, the cyber attackers were part of a cryptocurrency fraud incident. Public blockchain records found that the scammers received over $100,00 worth of cryptocurrencies.
Extra Protections
A lot of high-profile accounts were hijacked but surprisingly, the US President Donald Trump’s account wasn’t.
One of the most famous Twitter users was spared safe from the attack and uses are now speculating. One theory floating right now is maybe the president has implemented extra precautions to his account.
Modern technology drove communication and information dissemination to new speeds. And social media platforms have been a staple for politicians and public figures.
A recently published report said that two anonymous sources claim that Trump’s account has more protections after “past incidents”.
It can be recalled that in the past that a rogue Twitter employee deactivated his Twitter account in November 2017. Reports say that the employee was already on his last day of work and that Trump’s account was reactivated a few mins later.
A day after that incident, the company announced that it will be implementing safeguards to prevent these kinds of situations. However, the company didn’t further elaborate that and was not addressed again.
