High-Profile Twitter Accounts Hack
| High-Profile Twitter Accounts Hack | |
|---|---|
| Short Title | Verified Twitter Accounts of a Number of High-Profile US Individuals Were Hijacked |
| Location | United States |
| Date | July 2020 |
| Solove Harm | Insecurity, Appropriation, Interrogation |
| Information | Authenticating, Identifying, Social Network, Communication |
| Threat Actors | Twitter, Hackers |
| Individuals | |
| Affected | High-profile US figures |
| High Risk Groups | Celebrities, Wealthy, Politicians |
| Tangible Harms | Loss of Trust |
The accounts of a number of high profile US figures appeared to have been compromised to perpetrate cryptocurrency fraud.
Description
In July 2020, hackers hijacked verified Twitter accounts of a number of high-profile US figures. Insecurity
Their official accounts requested donations in the cryptocurrency. Appropriation For example, Bill Gates' account posted: "Everyone is asking me to give back. You send $1,000, I send you back $2,000." Media reported some hacked tweets directed users to cryptoforhealth.com, registered by a cyber-attacker using the email address mkeyworth5@gmail.com.
Elon Musk, Barack Omaba and Joe Biden were among those hit. The US Senate Commerce committee’s employees "with access to internal systems and tools" were targeted as well.
Twitter said it was a co-ordinated social-engineering attack by people who successfully targeted some of Twitter employees with access to internal systems and tools. It can be interpreted as Insecurity.
Cyber security specialists claim, "this appears to be the worst hack of a major social media platform yet." The actions of hackers can be seen as Interrogation.
Potentially thousands of people were scammed out of money after those hijacked accounts promised to double the money fans sent them in the cryptocurrency Bitcoin.
Using Twitter's internal systems, the cyber-criminals' messages had a reach of at least 350 million people.
And it looks like it made them about $110,000 (£86,800) in the few hours that the scam was active.
Twitter said it had taken "significant steps to limit access to internal systems" while it investigated.
In the end of July 2020 the FBI, IRS, US Secret Service, and Florida law enforcement arrested a 17-year old Florida resident, accusing him of ‘masterminding’ the hack. Later the Department of Justice published a press release with charges for two additional individuals, a 19-year-old in the UK and and a 22-year old of Orlando, Florida.
Laws and Regulations
Sources
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-53439585
https://www.reviewgeek.com/49322/a-tampa-florida-teenager-has-been-arrested-for-the-giant-twitter-hack/