Unidentified individuals have managed to hack the official Twitter accounts of several prominent people, include those owned by former president Barack Obama, US Vice-President Joe Biden, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, rapper Kanye West, and American billionaire Mike Bloomberg. The official Twitter accounts of major brands such as Apple and Uber were also hacked on Wednesday.
All of the hacked accounts had posted the same relative tweet, asking readers to send money to a Bitcoin address. The money they send will allegedly be doubled as a way of "giving back." Gates' tweet stated that if someone sends him $1000, he will send back $2,000. The tweets also stated that the promotion will only last 30 minutes from the time it was posted.
The incident understandably caused quite a lot of concerns from its affected owners. The US Senate Commerce Committee sent a notice to Twitter to provide a detailed report in a meeting scheduled next week. Following the hack, Twitter issued a statement, claiming that the coordinated attack had targeted one of its employees who had access to an internal "master tool," which in turn had access to all the affected Twitter accounts.
In a series of tweets, the social media giant revealed that the hackers used the tool to take control of dozens of "highly-visible" accounts to publish posts on their behalf. The company assured its users that it had already taken steps to take back control of the accounts and ensure that no further accounts are hacked. In the meantime, the company has blocked all users from posting Bitcoin wallet addresses.
Twitter's chief executive officer, Jack Dorsey, posted a tweet on Thursday, stating that the company feels terrible for what had happened and that it was a tough day for everyone at the company.
Cybersecurity agencies have warned users to be wary of any tweets that request for money or sensitive information, even if they come from verified accounts of well-known individuals. White House officials had reportedly reached out to Twitter to confirm if US President Donald Trump's account was affected by the hack. The White House confirmed in a statement that Trump's account was not compromised and the President will remain active on the social media platform.
Investigators found that some of the attacks had led to a website that was registered under the email address and a person named "Anthony Elias." Authorities believe that the name is an alias. They also found an Instagram account linked to the website, which had posted a message that stated that the attack was charitable in nature and that all of the funds that were sent would be sent to "the right place. "
