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Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack

coindesk.com

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Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack

#951

Post by otabdeveloper4 »

the_gipsy wrote: post #908
otabdeveloper4 wrote: post #903

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a simpler explanation: someone wants to destroy Twitter. (Bless them, lol.) Twitter's only value to the world is the idea that it is a platform where "celebs" can safely broadcast their message to the public. That value proposition has now been destroyed.

"destroyed", a bit exaggerated, mate.

Well, if I was Obama I'd cancel my Twitter account ASAP. Today the tweet is relatively harmless and obviously fake, but who's to say that tomorrow something really toxic to Obama's reputation won't be posted under Obama's name? (Say, something anti-feminist.)

Are there better options?

Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack

#952

Post by WhyNotHugo »

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.

Quite true. Maybe some unscrupulous 19 year old with average understanding of tech, who happened to have access to the right tools at the right time.

Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack

#953

Post by aj3 »

kabacha wrote: post #862
zelly wrote: post #767

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It looks like someone found a 0-day in the new API and wanted to use it before others did. Probably didn't help that the bug bounty for this would have been only 7k. How much does the Twitter employee who implemented this bug get paid? https://twitter.com/LiveOverflow/status/1283511782380908545

Currently their earned BTC balance is $120k+ for comparison. That's a pretty successful scam and 5% of potential revenue will not make anyone go white hat.

Many previous ICO hacks (wait for initial coin offering -> change the bitcoin address to your own) have paid millions. Musk's or Buffet's tweets have moved markets multiple times. This sort of access could have been leveraged to gain at least x100 more than what they achieved.

Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack

#956

Post by eythian »

buzzerbetrayed wrote: post #927
aazaa wrote: post #673

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In time you may come to view this as a bug, not a feature.

This is exactly what I was thinking. This has made me lose a lot of faith in crypto, not that I had a ton of faith to begin with. But I keep hearing people talk about blacklisting addresses and blocking transactions. That's scary stuff. How can people ever feel comfortable storing large amounts of money in crypto if the big players can simply block their address and make it near impossible to liquidize their money? I…

That is not what's going on here. This is a company protecting its users from a scam. If you don't want that protection, it's quite feasible to not use that company and use one that doesn't do that, or manage your own wallet, or whatever.

Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack

#957

Post by dynamite-ready »

mmazing wrote: post #829
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.

Never attribute to malice what is easily explained by incompetence. Hanlon's Razor BOIIII

The result of the 'mistake' is extremely specific. But you're right. You can never rule that out.

Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack

#958

Post by molmalo »

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?

I would bet the attacker(s) is/are reading this thread, curious about this community's reaction on the attack and having a good laugh.

Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack

#959

Post by vlz »

jgbond wrote: post #541
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’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.

What does "DM" mean in that context?

(Went to wikipedia, but their suggestions like Death Metal and Dance marathon are probably not it ;) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DM )

Re: Hackers take over prominent Twitter accounts in simultaneous attack

#960

Post by q-base »

vlz wrote: post #959
jgbond wrote: post #541

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

What does "DM" mean in that context? (Went to wikipedia, but their suggestions like Death Metal and Dance marathon are probably not it ;) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DM )

Direct messages - so private messages to and from
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