Who’s behind Wednesday’s epic Twitter hack?

#1

Post by MindGods » Thu, Jul 16, 2020, 9:58 PM UTC

Who’s behind Wednesday’s epic Twitter hack?
krebsonsecurity.com

Re: Who’s behind Wednesday’s epic Twitter hack?

#2

Post by sillysaurusx » Thu, Jul 16, 2020, 10:37 PM UTC

While it may sound ridiculous that anyone would be fooled into sending bitcoin in response to these tweets, an analysis of the BTC wallet promoted by many of the hacked Twitter profiles shows that on July 15 the account processed 383 transactions and received almost 13 bitcoin on July 15 — or approximately USD $117,000.

This could be mostly the attackers’ own money. It’s impossible to tell, but I haven’t seen anyone explicitly mention this.

Re: Who’s behind Wednesday’s epic Twitter hack?

#3

Post by nullc » Thu, Jul 16, 2020, 10:38 PM UTC

sillysaurusx wrote: post #2

While it may sound ridiculous that anyone would be fooled into sending bitcoin in response to these tweets, an analysis of the BTC wallet promoted by many of the hacked Twitter profiles shows that on July 15 the account processed 383 transactions and received almost 13 bitcoin on July 15 — or approximately USD $117,000. This could be mostly the attackers’ own money. It’s impossible to tell, but I haven’t seen anyone…

It might be better to assume that it's entirely the attacker's money until at least one actual victim steps forward.

Re: Who’s behind Wednesday’s epic Twitter hack?

#4

Post by teknopurge » Thu, Jul 16, 2020, 10:40 PM UTC

It's not a hack when an employee holds the door open and gives use of an admin management tool to a third party.

Likewise, it's not a bitcoin scam when bitcoin is the method of transfer, just like it's not a US-dollar scam every other time dollars are used in theft.

Re: Who’s behind Wednesday’s epic Twitter hack?

#5

Post by chmod775 » Thu, Jul 16, 2020, 10:41 PM UTC

sillysaurusx wrote: post #2

While it may sound ridiculous that anyone would be fooled into sending bitcoin in response to these tweets, an analysis of the BTC wallet promoted by many of the hacked Twitter profiles shows that on July 15 the account processed 383 transactions and received almost 13 bitcoin on July 15 — or approximately USD $117,000. This could be mostly the attackers’ own money. It’s impossible to tell, but I haven’t seen anyone…

You'd have to be a special kind of stupid to "un-wash" your own bitcoins this way.

Re: Who’s behind Wednesday’s epic Twitter hack?

#6

Post by barbecue_sauce » Thu, Jul 16, 2020, 10:42 PM UTC

teknopurge wrote: post #4

It's not a hack when an employee holds the door open and gives use of an admin management tool to a third party. Likewise, it's not a bitcoin scam when bitcoin is the method of transfer, just like it's not a US-dollar scam every other time dollars are used in theft.

Is bribery not considered a viable form of social engineering?

Re: Who’s behind Wednesday’s epic Twitter hack?

#7

Post by paulpauper » Thu, Jul 16, 2020, 10:43 PM UTC

The among taken in this scam is chump change compared to the YouTube scammers. YouTube is a vastly bigger website than twitter and way slower to respond to accounts begin stolen by scammers. I remember seeing an Ripple giveaway scam that in a single day made 100k with just a single account ,. And fake bill gates one made 40k. the list goes on and on. My guess is the total taken is in the $3-5 million range from youtube alone.

Re: Who’s behind Wednesday’s epic Twitter hack?

#8

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jul 16, 2020, 10:44 PM UTC

nullc wrote: post #3

sillysaurusx wrote: post #2

While it may sound ridiculous that anyone would be fooled into sending bitcoin in response to these tweets, an analysis of the BTC wallet promoted by many of the hacked Twitter profiles shows that on July 15 the account processed 383 transactions and received almost 13 bitcoin on July 15 — or approximately USD $117,000. This could be mostly the attackers’ own money. It’s impossible to tell, but I haven’t seen anyone…

It might be better to assume that it's entirely the attacker's money until at least one actual victim steps forward.

[deleted]

Re: Who’s behind Wednesday’s epic Twitter hack?

#9

Post by ceo_tim_crook » Thu, Jul 16, 2020, 10:44 PM UTC

barbecue_sauce wrote: post #6

teknopurge wrote: post #4

It's not a hack when an employee holds the door open and gives use of an admin management tool to a third party. Likewise, it's not a bitcoin scam when bitcoin is the method of transfer, just like it's not a US-dollar scam every other time dollars are used in theft.

Is bribery not considered a viable form of social engineering?

I wouldn't even call that social engineering, just fraud

Re: Who’s behind Wednesday’s epic Twitter hack?

#10

Post by kingnight » Thu, Jul 16, 2020, 10:45 PM UTC

teknopurge wrote: post #4

It's not a hack when an employee holds the door open and gives use of an admin management tool to a third party. Likewise, it's not a bitcoin scam when bitcoin is the method of transfer, just like it's not a US-dollar scam every other time dollars are used in theft.

Bitcoin is sort of notable vs US-dollar in that it’s significantly more of a novelty, and unlike the dollar, doesn’t have same fraud recovery path.