Twitter apologized on Saturday because the hackers who accessed the accounts of celebrities and political figures did so thanks to successfully manipulating a small number of employees, a blow to the confidence of its users, the social network acknowledged.
The hackers were targeting 130 accounts and managed to access 45, thanks to the use of tools only accessible to internal support teams, the company explained in a blog post.
Those affected by the attack included politicians, such as the Democratic Party's American presidential candidate, Joe Biden, former United States President Barack Obama, and also big businessmen such as Jeff Bezos founder of the Amazon trade group; Elon Musk, head of the Tesla electric vehicle company; and Bill Gates, founder of the computer giant Microsoft.
Twitter also acknowledged the damage that this can have on its reputation: We are ashamed, disappointed and, above all, we are sorry. We know that we need to regain their trust and we will support all the efforts made so that those responsible are brought to justice, the statement said.
The objective of this attack, apparently, was economic.
The hackers sent messages from the accounts they accessed to encourage Twitter users to donate bitcoin cryptocurrencies with the promise of getting double that amount.
According to specialized sites that register bitcoin exchanges, although the identity of the recipients cannot be known, about $ 100,000 was sent through this mechanism.
Twitter said on Saturday that hackers also downloaded data from eight of these accounts that can only be accessed by their owner.
The social network also explained that thanks to the tools that the pirates had accessed, they circumvented the double authentication barrier, a process that gives more security than the password.
This attack, investigated by the FBI, sparked a debate about social media security a few months before the November presidential election in the United States.
But also, about the consequences that this would have if hackers managed to access the account of US President Donald Trump, who often carries out his diplomacy on Twitter, where he has 83.5 million subscribers.
Twitter has not released details about the employees involved in the attack or the identity of the hackers.
The latter have had access to personal information, such as email accounts or telephone numbers, of the account holders.
According to The New York Times , it all started with a mysterious hacker who operated under the name "Kirk" and had internal access.
The newspaper rejects the thesis of an attack orchestrated by a State or by a famous group of "hackers".
The hacking was carried out by 'a group of young people', one of whom claims to live with his mother, who became known for their obsession with difficult-to-obtain user names, according to New York Times.
The hackers interviewed by the newspaper claimed to have participated only in the attack on lesser-known accounts. These profiles, however, have names that are highly appreciated by certain Internet users.
They are profiles whose username only includes a letter or a number, for example, which guarantees a strong presence on the social network. The objective was to take control of the account and then sell it in bitcoins.
Those affected by the attack included politicians, such as the Democratic Party's American presidential candidate, Joe Biden, former United States President Barack Obama, and also big businessmen such as Jeff Bezos founder of the Amazon trade group; Elon Musk, head of the Tesla electric vehicle company; and Bill Gates, founder of the computer giant Microsoft.
Twitter also acknowledged the damage that this can have on its reputation: We are ashamed, disappointed and, above all, we are sorry. We know that we need to regain their trust and we will support all the efforts made so that those responsible are brought to justice, the statement said.
The objective of this attack, apparently, was economic.
The hackers sent messages from the accounts they accessed to encourage Twitter users to donate bitcoin cryptocurrencies with the promise of getting double that amount.
According to specialized sites that register bitcoin exchanges, although the identity of the recipients cannot be known, about $ 100,000 was sent through this mechanism.
Twitter said on Saturday that hackers also downloaded data from eight of these accounts that can only be accessed by their owner.
The social network also explained that thanks to the tools that the pirates had accessed, they circumvented the double authentication barrier, a process that gives more security than the password.
This attack, investigated by the FBI, sparked a debate about social media security a few months before the November presidential election in the United States.
But also, about the consequences that this would have if hackers managed to access the account of US President Donald Trump, who often carries out his diplomacy on Twitter, where he has 83.5 million subscribers.
Twitter has not released details about the employees involved in the attack or the identity of the hackers.
The latter have had access to personal information, such as email accounts or telephone numbers, of the account holders.
According to The New York Times , it all started with a mysterious hacker who operated under the name "Kirk" and had internal access.
The newspaper rejects the thesis of an attack orchestrated by a State or by a famous group of "hackers".
The hacking was carried out by 'a group of young people', one of whom claims to live with his mother, who became known for their obsession with difficult-to-obtain user names, according to New York Times.
The hackers interviewed by the newspaper claimed to have participated only in the attack on lesser-known accounts. These profiles, however, have names that are highly appreciated by certain Internet users.
They are profiles whose username only includes a letter or a number, for example, which guarantees a strong presence on the social network. The objective was to take control of the account and then sell it in bitcoins.