Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack • Hacker News Board

Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack

#831

Post by pldr1234 » Thu, Jul 16, 2020, 2:58 AM UTC

Sebb767 wrote: post #672

css wrote: post #661

Earlier 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 might actually explain the simple scam nature. Setting up more complex monetisation, i.e. by shorting a company, takes quite a while, especially if you don't want to be tracked. A bitcoin scam is quick and simple to do. And it's not _too_ illegal (compared to, for example, stock manipulation), so the attacker will probably catch less heat.

Perhaps they shorted Twitter, before this huge public demonstration? I hadn't considered it until your message, but it makes the most sense to me.

Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack

#832

Post by abvdasker » Thu, Jul 16, 2020, 2:59 AM UTC

I don't think anyone appreciates how scary this is. A simple BTC scam or even market manipulation is one thing. Can you imagine the mass panic if there were one sombre tweet from Trump's account about a nuclear strike?

Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack

#833

Post by Monroe13 » Thu, Jul 16, 2020, 3:04 AM UTC

Firebrand wrote: post #312

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.

I wonder if they have access to the accounts’ DMs too. Lots of juicy info potentially there.

I’m seeing a lot of discussion of the DMs being the real target, but executives and politicians usually have staff who monitor and post to their social media channels. Hard to imagine Barack Obama communicating anything of blackmail value over a channel that a mid-level social media manager has the password to.

Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack

#834

Post by staycoolboy » Thu, Jul 16, 2020, 3:08 AM UTC

OriginalPenguin wrote: post #512

staycoolboy wrote: post #361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't imagine the user's devices were targeted (e.g. Obama's cell phone), so this must be internal. Eff me.

Why? It's certainly imaginable Obama's cell phone was targeted.

Because that would require dozens of simultaneous simjacks on corporations, billionaires and politicians. Simjacking has about a 20 minute - 4 hour effective window, shorter if the person uses their phone extensively. Hacking the 2FA of Apple, Bezos, Buffet, Gates, Obama, Musk ... in that time window ... naaaaah.

Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack

#835

Post by jliptzin » Thu, Jul 16, 2020, 3:14 AM UTC

whitenoice wrote: post #815

jliptzin wrote: post #805

Seems to me twitter should hire some humans to sit there and manually approve every tweet by all VIP accounts before they go live. How hard could that be? If that’s all they do you’re adding maybe a 30 second delay to every VIP tweet and you’re pretty much guaranteeing that this doesn’t happen again. Unless of course the hackers somehow inserted the tweet directly to the database and bypassing any such measures.

That will not help, as the imposter could post a sane tweet impersonating the VIP. The person checking would not be able to identify if it's the VIP or the imposter.

The point is to screen outrageously out of character or dangerous tweets, for instance Hillary Clinton giving away bitcoin, or a politician declaring war on another country. Something timid or benign slipping through is not that big of a deal.

Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack

#836

Post by WrtCdEvrydy » Thu, Jul 16, 2020, 3:17 AM UTC

sundvor wrote: post #757

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.

Agree; this looks like an ISK doubling Jita scam for laughs, given the sophistication of the event.

I thought it was just me, but yes... please send me your ISK and I will double it... here's a website with a wallet thing that shows we sent out money... everytime we received some.

Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack

#837

Post by base698 » Thu, Jul 16, 2020, 3:17 AM UTC

Sebb767 wrote: post #499

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.

But then why set up a rather simply scam instead of getting the bug bounty from twitter? That wallet is currently sitting at about 150k USD and these are rather hard to pay out. Why not just go for 100k USD bug bounty, completely legal and with fame?

How much do you think Trump's DMs are worth? Kanye's? Elon's?

Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack

#838

Post by WrtCdEvrydy » Thu, Jul 16, 2020, 3:18 AM UTC

shdc wrote: post #636

monokh wrote: post #496

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about the possibility of a Bitcoin marketing campaign?

Hmm the thing is, associating it even more with "hack" and "scam" isn't really great marketing.

This is good for bitcoin - /r/bitcoin probably.

Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack

#839

Post by htrp » Thu, Jul 16, 2020, 3:21 AM UTC

tetha wrote: post #559

throw_m239339 wrote: post #236

Your site is getting hacked, you don't know how the hackers are doing it, what do you do ops wise? Take the whole site down for a few hours? Because the entire platform is compromised, how do you handle that?

More of a b2b context. However, we've had an unannounced pentester achieve RCE on our systems. Not a fun situation. At that point, we were forced by our contracts, and data protection laws, and a CEO aware of all of these, to shut the affected productive system down. We stopped all services, set the firewalls of our hoster to only accept traffic from our office and that's it, while figuring out wtf happened. Those me…

When you say unannounced pentester, how the hell did that happen? Usually, isn't someone in the escalation chain aware of these types of things?

Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack

#840

Post by bb2018 » Thu, Jul 16, 2020, 3:27 AM UTC

fishtoaster wrote: post #336

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.

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.

Occam's razor says this is almost certainly the case. It isn't like the hacker knew that it would generate such little bitcoin being sent their way until after it failed.

Especially if the hacker is not from the US it seems much easier to do the bitcoin hack than try to contact a company thousands of miles away that you know one at.