Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack

Post by Latty » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 10:15 PM UTC

justinmeiners wrote: post #391

dx87 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like an exploit. The article says that some of the accounts were confirmed to have multi-factor authentication enabled.

> multi-factor authentication enabled It sure seems like multi-factor auth isn't very helpful, when nearly all hacks have nothing to do with breaking credentials.

Post by rsecora » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 10:16 PM UTC

scottmf wrote: post #268

maxcan wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, we should be relieved if thats all that was stolen. A more sophisticated attack would involve OTM puts on TSLA and a tweet along the lines of: "finding major defects in Ys and 3s. shutting down all lines to reconfigure for a week" That could have netted the attackers millions.

My crazy theory: the real attack is on the Twitter stock price and the bitcoin is a distraction.

Post by LeoPanthera » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 10:16 PM UTC

BiteCode_dev wrote: post #260

Given how huge this hack is, and how little the BTC reward is going to be, I'm tempting to think this is either: - a test of a new hacking system - a demonstration to a big client - a first shot to threat some entity - a diversion while they get the real loot And that the BTC messages are just a way to justify it so it looks like a simple scam. Such a hack is worth way, WAY more than the few BTC it could bring.

Post by WrtCdEvrydy » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 10:17 PM UTC

neurostimulant wrote: post #294

ChuckMcM wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It "feels" like an insider attack (simultaneous compromise of lots of high value accounts) but I agree, it will make for a fascinating post mortem if one is produced.

Hmm, how much money this scam would potentially generates? I think the salary of an engineer working on twitter would be higher given how fast this scam would be shut down. Would a twitter employee risk their career to this scam?

Post by libraryatnight » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 10:17 PM UTC

neurostimulant wrote: post #144

With so many accounts compromised, the hackers might actually have full access to Twitter's backend. The postmortem would be very interesting. I'll be looking forward to it. Imagine if the hackers timed the intrusion during github outage, and twitter's employees can't deploy a fix for the exploit fast enough because github was down!