Twitter has confirmed that hackers who attacked the Twitter accounts of celebrities last week gained access to the direct messages (DMs) of 36 users. "Thirty-six of the 130 accounts targeted by hackers appear to have access to the DM, one of which is the elected parliamentarian of the Netherlands," Twitter tweeted on Wednesday.

According to Twitter, no other elected MP has been given access to the DM as of Wednesday. Last week, it was reported that a hacker promoting Bitcoin had attacked the Twitter accounts of former US President Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Alan Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Kim Kardashian West.

In addition, Twitter has been found to have attempted to gain access to internal administrative information by attacking Twitter employees' accounts. Cyber ​​security experts have expressed concern after the Twitter attack.

He also called for security concerns, saying that Bitcoin promotions could be carried out by attacking the accounts of celebrities and that personal data could be made public.

Twitter says the hack that compromised the accounts of some of its most high-profile users targeted 130 people. The hackers were able to reset the passwords of 45 of those accounts.

The San Francisco=based company said in a blog post-Saturday that for up to eight of these accounts the attackers also downloaded the account’s information through the “Your Twitter Data” tool. None of the eight were verified accounts, Twitter said, adding that it is contacting the owners of the affected accounts.

“We’re embarrassed, we’re disappointed, and more than anything, we’re sorry. We know that we must work to regain your trust, and we will support all efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice,” Twitter said in the blog post.

The July 17 attack broke into the Twitter accounts of world leaders, celebrities and tech moguls in one of the most high-profile security breaches in recent years. The attackers sent out tweets from the accounts of the public figures, offering to send $2,000 for every $1,000 sent to an anonymous Bitcoin address.

It highlighted a major flaw with the service millions of people have come to rely on as an essential communications tool.

Allison Nixon, chief research officer at cybersecurity firm 221B said in an email Sunday that the people behind the attack appear to have come from the “OG” community, a group interested in original, short Twitter handles such as @a, @b or @c, for instance.

“Based upon what we have seen, the motivation for the most recent Twitter attack is similar to previous incidents we have observed in the OG community — a combination of financial incentive, technical bragging rights, challenge, and disruption,” Nixon wrote. “The OG community is not known to be tied to any nation-state. Rather they are a disorganized crime community with a basic skill set and are a loosely organized group of serial fraudsters.”

While this attack did not appear to go further than the Bitcoin ruse — at least for now — it raises questions about Twitter’s ability to secure its service against election interference and misinformation ahead of the U.S. presidential election.

“Entire markets and potentially elections may be manipulated or altered in this way,” Nixon said. “Victims of account takeovers generally do not know that the fraud has occurred, and generally cannot take security precautions to prevent it.”

source: AP

 

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Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is silent after the Twitter handles of the world's most powerful celebrities were hacked on Wednesday. Hackers have hacked into the Twitter accounts of bigwigs such as Elon Musk, Barack Obama and Joey Widen and openly exposed cryptocurrency scams. Similar tweets have been leaked from the Twitter accounts of big companies like Apple and Uber.

When Twitter gained control of the affected account, it did not take long for it to snatch it back from the attacker. The company then took a big step to control the situation. He disabled a large part of his service. Dorsey's response came four hours after the attack began. He was the one who delayed the information to be spread at the speed of light.

"Twitter's hostile days," Dorsey wrote on Twitter, "are terrified of what happened." The worst event in any company's history is a sign of bad times. But Dorsey, who has made a name for himself in Silicon Valley, has reacted weakly in challenging moments. Twitter's role now raises questions about her role in shaping public debate and Dorsey's ability to handle the company.

The United States is on the verge of a presidential election. At this time, everyone is focused on the security and integration of social media. Dorsey has already caused a stir on Twitter by labelling President Donald Trump's tweet as misleading. After that move, Jack Dorsey's stance is different from that of Mark Zuckerberg. Dorsey seems to have been deified by the Progressives and demonized by the Conservatives.

Even on Twitter, Dorsey is facing a series of internal struggles. Activist fund Elliott Management, which had a large stake in Twitter last year, asked Dorsey to focus on Twitter or resign. Twitter asked Dorsey to resign as CEO of Twitter or Square Company. Elliott himself left the company last March to get rid of Dorsey. But due to time bidding, Elliott's presence is still on the company's board.

Elliott Management declined to comment on the hack. Even Twitter has refused to respond to Dorsey's leadership and has decided not to send him to any interviews. Twitter has said that the hacker may have hacked from the employees who have access to the internal tools of the company. About 130 accounts were targeted. The FBI is investigating.

But the hacked incident could put pressure on Dorsey to pay attention to Twitter. His role has always been weak, says David Yofi, a professor of business administration at Harvard University. It is considered very sensitive to play the role of CEO in two organizations. This incident, which took place due to his distraction, has caused a great deal of damage to his reputation.

Dorsey had previously defended his dual role on Twitter and Square, saying his schedule was flexible to focus on important work. Although Dorsey has enough support on the board, Wednesday's incident will at least force the company's directors to make changes.

But the good news for Dorsey is that CEOs of Facebook, Apple, Google and Amazon have been called to Antitrust's judicial subcommittee for clarification. But Twitter, which has not yet received criticism from Antitrust, should not be present at the subcommittee.

He can therefore avoid questions of integrity, political bias and platform security. He has already attended some such hearings two years ago. For Wednesday's incident, he would not have to attend any such hearing or explanation.

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