This archive report was first published on 16 July 2020.
Twitter Hacking Spree Raises Security Concerns ¶
On July 15, 2020, Twitter was hit by a hacking spree that compromised the security of the platform, affecting high-profile accounts including those of Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and Elon Musk.
The hackers obtained control of employee credentials, allowing them to hijack accounts and send tweets on behalf of the account holders. Twitter confirmed that the hackers used social engineering tactics to target employees with access to internal systems and tools.
According to Twitter, the hackers then used this access to take control of many highly-visible accounts and tweet on their behalf. The company stated that they detected what they believed to be a coordinated social engineering attack.
Security experts have expressed concerns that the hacking spree could have serious consequences, particularly in the run-up to the US presidential election. Adam Conner, vice president for technology policy at the Center for American Progress, said that the hack was 'bad on July 15 but would be infinitely worse on November 3rd.'
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted that it was a 'tough day' for the company and that they were 'diagnosing and will share everything we can when we have a more complete understanding of exactly what happened.'
The hackers posed as celebrities and the wealthy, asking followers to send digital currency bitcoin to a series of addresses. By evening, 400 bitcoin transfers were made worth a combined $120,000. The financial damage may be limited because multiple exchanges blocked other payments after their own Twitter accounts were targeted.
However, the damage to Twitter's reputation may be more serious. Dan Guido, CEO of security company Trail of Bits, said that Twitter's response to the hack was 'astonishing' and that it took them five hours to get a handle on the incident.
Twitter said it was not yet certain what the hackers may have done beyond sending the bitcoin messages. The company stated that they were '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.'
