Loads of accounts still tweeting it in realtime. Follow it live: https://twitter.com/search?q=bc1qxy2kgdygjrsqtzq2n0yrf2493p8...
12 BTC so far... https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/bc1qxy2kgdygjrsqtzq2n...
Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack
561–570 of 1001 posts
Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack
#562All: don't miss that there are multiple pages of comments. The top few subthreads have become so large that they fill out the first page entirely. You have to click 'More' at the bottom to see the rest, including a lot of the newest posts. Or use these links:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23851275&p=2
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23851275&p=3
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23851275&p=4
Edit: also, there's a related thread tracking the BTC transactions here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23851542.
In general, look for More links at the bottom of big threads. This is a performance workaround that we're hoping to drop before long, but in the meantime there's a limit of 250 or so comments per page.
Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack
#563Earlier quoted context omitted.
If they had full access to Twitter’s backend, they probably would be tweeting from accounts like @POTUS or @jack. But this seems like they have access to limited accounts. Most likely gained access to a third party service that allows you to manage your tweets? Edit: they tweeted from the twitter support account. Just wow. They might have actually gotten into Twitter’s systems. Edit 2: To expand on my edit above, I s…
Donald Trump was Tweeting in Farsi earlier, I was seriously on the fence about whether that was a genuine tweet.
"3 people have been sentenced to death for participating in demonstrations. They could be subject to execution at any moment. This sends a deplorable message to the world and should not occur. #dont_execute"
[edit: not sure why this is getting so much silent attention. It is a literal translation of the tweet referenced in OP.]
Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack
#564Earlier quoted context omitted.
Or just, someone stupid and uncreative got very very lucky and this was all they could come up with.
They are not stupid if they could make such a big attack.
Reminder: macrumors.com/2017/11/28/macos-high-sierra-bug-admin-access/ Not all serious bugs are difficult to find.
Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack
#565Earlier quoted context omitted.
Or a distraction while a bigger hack is going on?
Without knowing what they have access to, it's hard to tell. If it's a third party API key with special priviledged that they hacked, the potential harm is limited. If they have access to the full system, they could be sending millions of ghost messages to some part of the population right now to get them to do something while we all watch the BTC show: - scam them - get them infected to gather a massive bot net - ma…
> If it's a third party API key with special priviledged that they hacked
Unlikely since the tweets appeared from "Twitter Web App"
Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack
#566Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, of course. Take the site down if you don't have a read only mode or something. You are losing millions in trust every minute this hack goes on.
They just disabled posts from verified users.
Yes, but it took them nearly 2 hours to do that, in the middle of the work day no less.
Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack
#567Given 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.
I believe some twitter admin users account was hacked who maybe has access to tweet anything from anyone's account. Twitter passwords/system is safe IMO.
Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack
#568Interesting how @Apple currently displays zero tweets at all.
Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack
#569Given 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.
I’m guessing DMs were the real loot. The public display with the BTC diversion validates any DMs that were stolen. Otherwise blackmail targets could deny them.
If DMs were the real loot, they wouldn’t have exposed the hack by tweeting on the account.
Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack
#570Twitter should suspend the entire platform until they can credibly fix this and prevent it in the future. An attacker could drop AMZN stock by 10% in minutes with just the wrong tweet from Bezos.
They just disabled tweeting from verified accounts. Right now I have more power than Elon.
Good. This should have been done an hour ago. Fortunately the attackers weren't nearly as malicious as they could have been.