Twitter admitted that its internal tools were exploited by hackers to gain control of those accounts. The tweets were promptly deleted, of course, and the handles restored to their rightful owners
It’s not unusual for people’s social media accounts to get hacked. But we’re forced to sit up and take notice when the victims are some of the world’s biggest celebrities, companies and politicians. Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Kanye West and Elon Musk are among those who’ve had their Twitter handles hijacked. Fake tweets from their official accounts went out to their followers, asking them to send bitcoin to a specified account on the promise they’d be given twice the money back.
That so many big names were targeted at one go meant that the security breach was at Twitter’s end, and not the result of any individual lapse. Twitter admitted that its internal tools were exploited by hackers to gain control of those accounts. The tweets were promptly deleted, of course, and the handles restored to their rightful owners. But if it turns out that people got duped, it would leave egg on everyone’s face. That Twitter can be broken into is especially scary because US President Donald Trump uses it almost as his official policy megaphone. He conducts trade wars via tweets, for example. Could the world be vulnerable to an accidental war started by some shadowy hacker?
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