Hack strike 130 accounts, enterprise ’embarrassed’

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Twitter claims the hack that compromised the accounts of some of its most superior-profile consumers focused 130 people today. The hackers were ready to reset the passwords of 45 of those people accounts.

The San Francisco=centered corporation mentioned in a website write-up Saturday that for up to eight of these accounts the attackers also downloaded the account’s info by means of the “Your Twitter Data” tool. None of the eight ended up confirmed accounts, Twitter mentioned, introducing that it is getting in contact with the house owners of the impacted accounts.

“We’re humiliated, we’re dissatisfied, and extra than anything at all, we’re sorry. We know that we must function to get back your have confidence in, and we will assistance all efforts to convey the perpetrators to justice,” Twitter stated in the blog article.

The July 17 assault broke into the Twitter accounts of environment leaders, stars and tech moguls in a single of the most significant-profile stability breaches in recent many years. The attackers sent out tweets from the accounts of the public figures, supplying to send $2,000 for each and every $1,000 sent to an anonymous Bitcoin handle.

It highlighted a main flaw with the services hundreds of thousands of persons have arrive to count on as an important communications instrument.

Allison Nixon, main investigation officer at cybersecurity business 221B explained in an e mail Sunday that the persons driving the attack look to have arrive from the “OG” local community, a team fascinated in unique, short Twitter handles these kinds of as @a, @b or @c, for instance.

“Based on what we have found,the commitment for the most current Twitter assault is similar to earlier incidents we have observed in the OG neighborhood — a combination of fiscal incentive, technical bragging legal rights, obstacle, and disruption,” Nixon wrote. “The OG neighborhood is not regarded to be tied to any country condition. Somewhat they are a disorganized crime neighborhood with a fundamental skillset and are a loosely organized group of serial fraudsters.”

While this attack did not seem go more than the Bitcoin ruse — at minimum for now — it raises inquiries about Twitter’s ability to secure its provider from election interference and misinformation in advance of the U.S. presidential election.

“Entire marketplaces and likely elections may perhaps be manipulated or altered in this way,” Nixon explained. “Victims of account takeovers usually do not know that the fraud has transpired, and commonly cannot just take protection safety measures to avert it.”