Everyone here is suggesting a monetary motive. Maybe there's a political motive--someone who really hates Twitter or serves to benefit if Twitter suffers.
Or it’s just a good samaritan doing all of us a favor
I agree, I'm not a fan of twitter.
Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack
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Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack
#742Btc address in the explorer to see how much was deposited
https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/bc1qxy2kgdygjrsqtzq2n...
Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack
#743Given 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.
It's possible this was conducted by somebody who underestimated the hack's value, or isn't even really doing it for monetary gain rather than to just stir chaos
Are you the AOL Pizza? (I’m guessing not but have to ask)
Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack
#744Oh finally, some real news about hackers.
Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack
#745Earlier quoted context omitted.
Or someone making one last use of an exploit on the old API, since ostensibly there is a day to go before the new API is released on the public net.
This makes way more sense than any of the other suggestions in HN. DMs are almost worthless; who uses DMs for anything important? It's for contacting people you kinda know but not really. State secrets aren't transitted over DM, but not because people wouldn't be stupid enough to do it. the people holding them are much older than the demographic that uses Twitter DMs. Worst case with DMs is some new YouTuber drama wo…
You're underestimating the situation. One possibility is that someone has some information that can be used to blackmail them be exposed. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a politician that used Twitter DMs in such a fashion.
Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack
#746Earlier 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.
The SEC would be able to trace the trades, and the person would be busted. Bitcoin allows them to remain anonymous.
I would argue it's kinda the opposite. With some trades, the SEC knows who you are but there's no direct connection from your transaction to the hacking, so you're free to do whatever with the money and if your trade is this small it'll probably blend right in.
With Bitcoin, sure nobody knows who owns this account, but the blockchain will store every transaction this account and future accounts make, so trying to actually use the Bitcoin is a fair amount harder.
Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack
#747How many DM’s would have been read ... could it be for black mailing? Anyways would love to see a postmortem ( if Twitter shares such)
Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack
#748EPIC!
Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack
#749How many DM’s would have been read ... could it be for black mailing? Anyways would love to see a postmortem ( if Twitter shares such)
even the existence of a widely accessed internal admin tool that has the ability to read "private" DMs would shake things up
Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack
#750Earlier quoted context omitted.
You mean shutdown Twitter? I think that's a bit extreme in this case.
It's not too hyperbolic to say that WW3 could be started on a platform like Twitter. Having a "shutdown" button doesn't seem that extreme when essentially the entire site seems to be compromised. I'd bet my bottom dollar that Congressional hearings are going to happen.
It hasn't gotten so far that heads of states end up in angry loops of escalation (yet). Luckily the only 2 hotheads in that position are Trump and Kim Jong-Un, I would argue and they seem to get along.