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  1. #1
    The Dentist English Noodles's Avatar
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    Major US Twitter accounts hacked in Bitcoin scam

    Billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates are among many prominent US figures targeted by hackers on Twitter in an apparent Bitcoin scam.

    The official accounts of Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Kanye West also requested donations in the cryptocurrency.

    "Everyone is asking me to give back," a tweet from Mr Gates' account said. "You send $1,000, I send you back $2,000."

    Twitter said it was a "co-ordinated" attack targeting its employees "with access to internal systems and tools".

    "We know they [the hackers] used this access to take control of many highly-visible (including verified) accounts and Tweet on their behalf," the company said in a series of tweets.

    It added that "significant steps" were taken to limit access to such internal systems and tools while the company's investigation was ongoing.

    Meanwhile, Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey tweeted: "Tough day for us at Twitter. We all feel terrible this happened."

    One cyber-security expert said that the breach could have been a lot worse in other circumstances.

    "If you were to have this kind of incident take place in the middle of a crisis, where Twitter was being used to either communicate de-escalatory language or critical information to the public, and suddenly it's putting out the wrong messages from several verified status accounts - that could be seriously destabilising," Dr Alexi Drew from King's College London told the BBC.

    Emergency response

    Twitter earlier had to take the extraordinary step of stopping many verified accounts marked with blue ticks from tweeting altogether.

    Password reset requests were also being denied and some other "account functions" disabled.

    By 20:30 EDT (00:30 GMT Thursday) users with verified account started to be able to send tweets again, but Twitter said it was still working on a fix.

    Dmitri Alperovitch, who co-founded cyber-security company CrowdStrike, told Reuters news agency: "This appears to be the worst hack of a major social media platform yet."

    On the official account of Mr Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX chief appeared to offer to double any Bitcoin payment sent to the address of his digital wallet "for the next 30 minutes".

    "I'm feeling generous because of Covid-19," the tweet added, along with a Bitcoin link address.

    The tweets were deleted just minutes after they were first posted.

    But as the first such tweet from Musk's account was removed, another one appeared, then a third.

    Others targeted included:

    the rapper Kanye Westreality TV star Kim Kardashian Westformer US President Obamaformer US Vice-President Joe Biden, who is the current Democratic presidential candidatemedia billionaire Mike Bloombergthe ride-sharing app Uberthe iPhone-maker Apple

    The Biden campaign said Twitter had "locked down the account within a few minutes of the breach and removed the related tweet".

    A spokesman for Bill Gates told AP news agency: "This appears to be part of a larger issue that Twitter is facing."

    Instagram message

    The BBC can report from a security source that a web address - cryptoforhealth.com - to which some hacked tweets directed users was registered by a cyber-attacker using the email address mkeyworth5@gmail.com.

    The name "Anthony Elias" was used to register the website, but may be a pseudonym - it appears to be a play on "an alias".

    Cryptoforhealth is also a registered user name on Instagram, apparently set up contemporaneously to the hack.

    What is Bitcoin?How do crypto-currencies work?

    The description of the profile read "It was us", alongside a slightly smiling face emoticon.

    The Instagram profile also posted a message that said: "It was a charity attack. Your money will find its way to the right place."

    In any case, the real identities of the perpetrators are as yet unknown.

    Major US Twitter accounts hacked in Bitcoin scam - BBC News

  2. #2
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Christ on a bike they must have some amazingly shit internal controls.

  3. #3
    I Amn't In Jail PlanK's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by English Noodles View Post
    "If you were to have this kind of incident take place in the middle of a crisis, where Twitter was being used to either communicate de-escalatory language or critical information to the public, and suddenly it's putting out the wrong messages from several verified status accounts - that could be seriously destabilising," Dr Alexi Drew from King's College London told the BBC.

    Anyone relying on Twitter as an information source is already doing it wrong. Twitter has been a cesspool for many years. Scammers have been posting there for years pretending to be legit celebs and Twitter has done nothing to stop it. It's only made the news because the scammers finally got to use an official "uselesskardashian" account rather than a "use1esskardashian" scam account. If you've never used Twitter it's like the Dog House on steroids but the only posters are Ant, โมโห, Banana Hammock & Chico.
    Some people think it don't, but it be.

  4. #4
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Plan B View Post
    Anyone relying on Twitter as an information source is already doing it wrong. Twitter has been a cesspool for many years. Scammers have been posting there for years pretending to be legit celebs and Twitter has done nothing to stop it. It's only made the news because the scammers finally got to use an official "uselesskardashian" account rather than a "use1esskardashian" scam account. If you've never used Twitter it's like the Dog House on steroids but the only posters are Ant, โมโห, Banana Hammock & Chico.
    Twitter has its place but you're right, too many stupid people and too easy to fake for any serious uses.

  5. #5
    Excommunicated baldrick's Avatar
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    let me take this opportunity to say that you should not use SMS for 2fa

  6. #6
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    Can't wait to read about the crazies who fell for this. People got scammed out of at least $123K USD. Obviously, most saw through it, but who were those people who fell for it?

  7. #7
    Thailand Expat jabir's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TTraveler View Post
    Can't wait to read about the crazies who fell for this. People got scammed out of at least $123K USD. Obviously, most saw through it, but who were those people who fell for it?
    Try posting that you urgently need $130 because your cat/dog/buffalo is sick and that's the vet's estimate to save its life. And don't be surprised if some idiot sends it.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by TTraveler View Post
    but who were those people who fell for it?
    Some poor people who have found that by their jobs they cannot enrich themselves. So why not to jump on the band-wagon and do like the richest do multiplying their assets within seconds... (it's surely not illegal, is it?)

  9. #9
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    3 years is prison for the Twitter hack kid. His talents probably could have taken him to much better places.

    A teenager responsible for masterminding a massive bitcoin scam last year that involved hacking Twitter accounts for various politicians and other high-profile figures has been sentenced to three years in prison.Graham Clark, 18, agreed to a deal with prosecutors to serve three years in prison after pleading guilty to various fraud charges connected to the July 2020 hack, officials announced Tuesday.



    Clark, who was arrested last year at the age of 17, was sentenced as a minor and will serve time in a juvenile facility followed by three years of probation, with a minimum sentence of 10 years if he breaks the probation.
    Clark was charged with using a variety of hacking and social engineering techniques to gain access to dozens of high-profile Twitter accounts and ask followers to send bitcoin to a cryptocurrency account.
    Among the verified accounts hacked were those of President Biden, former President Obama, Bill Gates and Elon Musk.



    Clark was able to raise 12.86 bitcoin, the equivalent of more than $117,000 at the time, through the scheme. All of the funds have since been returned to the victims.
    “He took over the accounts of famous people, but the money he stole came from regular, hard-working people,” Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren said in a statement on Wednesday.

    Teen responsible for major Twitter hack to serve three years in prison | TheHill

  10. #10
    Thailand Expat Saint Willy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TTraveler View Post
    3 years is prison for the Twitter hack kid.
    He took a deal cos they were threatening 10 years.

  11. #11
    Thailand Expat Backspin's Avatar
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    That's retarded. While the real criminals and frauds like elon musk get nothing

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