Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack

coindesk.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

791–800 of 1001 posts

Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack

#791

Post by exikyut »

zelly wrote: post #772
fishtoaster wrote: post #336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It could just be a relatively unsophisticated actor who stumbled upon a serious vulnerability and didn't know enough to market it to, eg, a state actor or whatever.

What would a state actor do with this? Read celebrities' DMs?

TWTR is a largeish company. I have no evidence but presume it is overwhelmingly likely that their scale a) makes getting inside the head of every employee is impossible and b) fosters the right conditions for a healthy number of little agenda-ized splinter cells with various passionate motivations and whatnot.

Besides public state and company size, Twitter is also new media. And all media is information warfare. (Hmm, that sounds a bit strong, especially considering the toxicity that is the platform itself; I mean the term generically speaking.)

Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack

#792

Post by nseggs »

6nf wrote: post #775
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.

The BTC is adding up to many millions so far. I'd say it's worth it by itself.

Lol not even close

Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack

#793

Post by RandomBK »

chki wrote: post #155

Wouldn't it be possible to block this attack by flagging all tweets containing the Bitcoin address in question? I would've assumed that Twitter could do something like this, maybe even already set up an automated system.

Treating the symptom and not the cause. The scam itself is (arguably) less damaging than whatever the hacker(s) can do with the access they've obtained.

Block bitcoin addresses, and they'll move on to different types of messages.

Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack

#794

Post by jeromegv »

zelly wrote: post #772
fishtoaster wrote: post #336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It could just be a relatively unsophisticated actor who stumbled upon a serious vulnerability and didn't know enough to market it to, eg, a state actor or whatever.

What would a state actor do with this? Read celebrities' DMs?

Are you really asking that? Trump announces most of his policies live on twitter, can easily announce something that would have a huge influence on the stock market. Multiple examples of companies, Elon Musk, etc doing major announcements on twitter.

Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack

#795

Post by _xnmw »

davidlee1435 wrote: post #162

Kudos to Coinbase- I tried sending a small amount to the account after seeing Elon Musk's tweet, and Coinbase prevented the transaction from occurring.

What was that about decentralized systems being immune to censorship again?

Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack

#796

Post by toby »

humaniania wrote: post #360
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.

Seems more likely to me that it was a Twitter employee or someone with access to an employee's PC to reset passwords.

A senior engineer (juniors would not have this level of access) risking their job and facing prosecution for an amount that would certainly be far less than their salary? That doesn't seem likely.

Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack

#797

Post by redisman »

shiado wrote: post #25

Place your bets, phishing or bug exploit. Some of these targets are too high profile to all fall for it and probably have teams that manage these accounts securely. Edit: 2fa was bypassed, interesting. https://twitter.com/tylerwinklevoss/status/12834920178892595...

Way too many high profile accounts for phishing

Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack

#798

Post by jonahbenton »

blisseyGo wrote: post #634

Tweet from TwitterDev team yesterday: https://twitter.com/TwitterDev/status/1283068902331817990 > 2 days to go… #TwitterAPI https://twitter.com/TwitterDev/status/1283433096780677122 > Thank you to all of you who have engaged with us and shared your feedback. Your input has been vital, and we’re committed to continuing these conversations with you. There’s so much more we’re doing to build a better #TwitterAPI… and Ea…

Finally, a reasonable explanation.

Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack

#799

Post by maxcan »

richardknop wrote: post #183
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.

The hacker could have puts on Twitter as well. The Bitcoin scam might be just a cover / distraction so it looks like an unsophisticated hacker while the real money might be made with options contracts.

Yeah.. seeing twitter's drop thats definitely possible and pretty imaginative. but, twitter's drop wasn't that sharp. also, running this after hours means the options markets are closed and putting on a big short position can be super risky since there may not be a huge amount of liquidity to cover your position, then you'd have to sit on it overnight.

Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack

#800

Post by WatchDog »

duskwuff wrote: post #105
vsareto wrote: post #63

All of Apple's tweets are gone https://twitter.com/Apple

That's not new. AFAIK, Apple promotes all of their tweets, so they don't show up on their profile.

For someone that doesn't understand twitter, what does that mean?
Post reply on HN