Twitter Hacked By ‘Coordinated Social Engineering Attack’ – Still Don’t Know How Bad It Was

Multiple Twitter accounts got hit by a hack that was done to fool Twitter users into sending Bitcoin to anonymous accounts.  Reports are now saying that hackers gained access to the accounts with the help of Twitter staff, possibly in exchange for cash.  The social media company blamed a “coordinated social engineering attack,” which alleges that Twitter workers were tricked into unintentionally helping the hackers.  Or, they were in on it.

Motherboard reports that an employee inside Twitter was allegedly convinced to take part in the recent wave of high-profile accounts being hijacked.  Screenshots that were leaked to Motherboard from two sources who hijacked the accounts apparently confirm that the hack was made possible by a compromised employee at the social media tech giant.

The accounts hijacked include Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden, Former President Barack Obama, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and the official accounts of ride-sharing service Uber and tech giant Apple. One source who alleges to be behind the attack told Motherboard directly, “We used a rep that literally done all the work for us,” adding that the hackers used a Twitter insider that they paid.  Bingo!  So the workers weren’t “convinced.”  They did it for money.

Upon request of anonymity, Motherboard was able to obtain details on how the hack was carried out.  A Twitter spokesperson told Motherboard that the company is investigating whether or not the employee hijacked the account directly or just gave the hackers access to internal Twitter account tools.

Two different hackers, from the hacking community, told the Vice tech magazine, that tools internet to Twitter workers were used to change ownership of prominent “OG” Twitter accounts.  These are special accounts with only 1 or 2 characters for a username, and according to hackers, are considered highly valuable.

Twitter Support admitted to the attack about 5:45 pm et Wednesday.

We are aware of a security incident impacting accounts on Twitter. We are investigating and taking steps to fix it. We will update everyone shortly.

— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) July 15, 2020

Twitter has alleged in a tweet that the hack was the result of a “coordinated social engineer attack:”

We know they used this access to take control of many highly-visible (including verified) accounts and Tweet on their behalf. We’re looking into what other malicious activity they may have conducted or information they may have accessed and will share more here as we have it.

— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) July 16, 2020

We know they used this access to take control of many highly-visible (including verified) accounts and Tweet on their behalf. We’re looking into what other malicious activity they may have conducted or information they may have accessed and will share more here as we have it.

— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) July 16, 2020

Social engineering on this sense is outlined by the Oxford English Dictionary as: “using deception to govern people into divulging confidential or private data that could be used for fraudulent functions.”

This may suggest that an inside firm worker was tricked into offering hackers with particulars they may use to achieve entry to the accounts, whereas sources informed Motherboard that Twitter workers have been paid for entry.

Republican Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) wrote a letter to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey inside of one hour of the breach requesting additional details about the hack together with how it was able to happen, how many accounts were hacked, and whether President Donald Trump’s account would be affected.

Hawley said: “Please reach out immediately to the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation and take any necessary measures to secure the site before this breach expands.”

.@jack @Twitter work with the FBI and DOJ to secure your platform. Now. Then give the public an accounting of how much of their personal info you lost today pic.twitter.com/Yn2q4Yr8Xx

— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) July 16, 2020

As of this writing it’s unclear how a much access hackers had to Twitter accounts and whether or not private information was breached.  Information like direct messages (DM), which could contain personal and private information.

Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) has asked Twitter why they don’t encrypt DMs.

“In September of 2018, shortly before he testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee, I met privately with Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey. During that conversation, Mr. Dorsey told me the company was working on end-to-end encrypted direct messages. It has been nearly two years since our meeting, and Twitter DMs are still not encrypted, leaving them vulnerable to employees who abuse their internal access to the company’s systems, and hackers who gain unauthorized access,” Wyden said in a statement.

Since the hack went public, people who have tried to change their passwords have been locked out, and as of this writing, they still can’t get into their accounts.

The tech giant company right now is just a mess.

Twitter has had employees abuse their access to spy on the Saudi government in the past, according to the Department of Justice.

Rich Welsh

Rich is  syndicated opinion columnist for David Harris Jr. and owner of Maga-Chat.com.  He writes about politics, culture, liberty and faith.

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