A Twitter employee was tricked into phone phishing allowing hackers to access the company’s internal support tool and hack into verified accounts.
Earlier this month, we reported how Twitter accounts of celebrities, including Barack Obama, Kim Kardashian, Joe Biden, and Bill Gates, got hijacked by crypto scammers to launch bitcoin scam. The scammers were able to rake in over £80,000/$100,000.
A more detailed analysis of the incident has revealed shocking new details about how the accounts were hacked at such a massive scale. Twitter posted this information in a blog post to confirm the cause of the incident:
“The social engineering that occurred on July 15, 2020, targeted a small number of employees through a phone spear-phishing attack. Using the credentials of employees with access to these tools, the attackers targeted 130 Twitter accounts, ultimately Tweeting from 45, accessing the DM inbox of 36, and downloading the Twitter Data of 7.”
Reportedly, a spear-phishing attack targeted against Twitter employees and humor errors were responsible for the mass hacking of major Twitter accounts, as the social networking giant itself has confirmed it.
The employees were targeted via their mobile phones. The attack allows the scammers to post tweets from official, blue-ticked accounts of famous celebs as well as access their account’s direct messages section.
The entire incident highlighted how the company gives its employees extensive access to user accounts. The company has pledged to improve its permissions and processes to prevent similar events from occurring.
