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So many accounts are affected, this seems to be a system-level hack rather than a compromise of individual accounts. Someone has found a way to post a tweet fr

So many accounts are affected, this seems to be a system-level hack rather than a compromise of individual accounts. Someone has found a way to post a tweet from any account they like?

actuator 6y ago
Some folks are saying some of these accounts had 2FA, so can be the case but I guess if it was a system thing, we might have seen tweets from more prominent accounts.
a3r0 6y ago
You would think they would do something with Trump if it was arbitrary accounts. But maybe his has additional protections
- nathancahill 6y ago
  I believe I read something (trying to find it) about Twitter internally having additional protections on Trump's account. Only a handful of people within Twitter can touch it.
  - Firebrand 6y ago
    It was likely after this incident: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41854482 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41854482
- marcinzm 6y ago
  They're clearly trying to avoid the risk of being tracked. For example, they could have done stock manipulation and made more money. Trump is someone with the power and craziness to spend a hundred million tracking you down and literally dropping bombs on your head. So it'd be poor risk management to go after his account.
  - Covzire 6y ago
    I agree, but only until the bombings, I mean he's the most anti-war president in living memory.
    - marcinzm 6y ago
      Bombing != war. Trump administration has had plenty of people killed by drone strikes. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/iran-strike-live-updates/2020/01/03/3779f55c-2e33-11ea-bcb3-ac6482c4a92f_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/iran-strike-live-update...
      - clairity 6y ago
        yup, trump hates war because it's bad for the businesses he's in (like real estate and luxury branding), but drone strikes don't have that downside.
    - patagurbon 6y ago
      He killed a general from an opposition nation state...
    - kzrdude 6y ago
      https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/13/world/asia/moab-mother-of-all-bombs-afghanistan.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/13/world/asia/moab-mother-of... > President Trump has bestowed additional authority on the Pentagon in his first months in office, which the military has argued will help it defeat the Islamic State more speedily. Mr. Trump did not say whether he had personally approved Thursday’s mission. > “What I do is I authorize my military,” Mr. Trump said after a meeting with emergency workers at the White House. He called the bombing “another very, very successful mission.” I think we can imagine being more anti-war than Trump. Do you remember Jimmy Carter? Being anti-war means deescalation, diplomacy and solving problems without violence.
MattBearman 6y ago
One theory is it's a tweet scheduling platform, rather than Twitter itself that was hacked.
- ceejayoz 6y ago
  No. Clicking into a tweet shows you which app was used to post it. https://help.twitter.com/en/using-twitter/how-to-tweet#source-labels https://help.twitter.com/en/using-twitter/how-to-tweet#sourc... These tweets are showing up as being posted from the Twitter web interface.
  - throwaway43234 6y ago
    Its not hard to fathom that someone who was able to pull off a hack like this could have also found a way to mess with the metadata there.
    - maest 6y ago
      Idle speculation isn't very helpful.
      - throwaway43234 6y ago
        Parent takes the posted-from metadata as absolute truth. I say it can't be relied upon when an active & involved hack is underway. You provide nothing of value. What do you think this entire thread is, but for idle speculation?
    - mod 6y ago
      It kinda is, if the premise is "they hacked a 3rd party app"
  - kuschku 6y ago
    Tweets posted through Twitter's ads platform, even non-ads scheduled tweets, will show up as normal twitter web posts. And approved partners can use the corresponding API to post this way.
lima 6y ago
Might be a third party client, browser extension, insider threat... not necessarily a compromise of the Twitter backend.
tqkxzugoaupvwqr 6y ago
Suggestion on Twitter is a third-party app that has write access to the accounts was compromised.
lessname 6y ago
I do not think that a 3rd party tweet scheduling program has been hacked, because the tweets say they have been sent by “Twitter Web App”. Maybe the new feature on twitter.com to schedule tweets has a security vulnerability?
ilarum 6y ago
The email address associated with the account(s) appear to have been changed as well: https://twitter.com/sniko_/status/1283485972286656517 https://twitter.com/sniko_/status/1283485972286656517

So many accounts are affected, this seems to be a system-level hack rather than a compromise of individual accounts. Someone has found a way to post a tweet from any account they like?

actuator 6y ago

Some folks are saying some of these accounts had 2FA, so can be the case but I guess if it was a system thing, we might have seen tweets from more prominent accounts.

a3r0 6y ago

You would think they would do something with Trump if it was arbitrary accounts. But maybe his has additional protections

nathancahill 6y ago
I believe I read something (trying to find it) about Twitter internally having additional protections on Trump's account. Only a handful of people within Twitter can touch it.
- Firebrand 6y ago
  It was likely after this incident: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41854482 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41854482
marcinzm 6y ago
They're clearly trying to avoid the risk of being tracked. For example, they could have done stock manipulation and made more money. Trump is someone with the power and craziness to spend a hundred million tracking you down and literally dropping bombs on your head. So it'd be poor risk management to go after his account.
- Covzire 6y ago
  I agree, but only until the bombings, I mean he's the most anti-war president in living memory.
  - marcinzm 6y ago
    Bombing != war. Trump administration has had plenty of people killed by drone strikes. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/iran-strike-live-updates/2020/01/03/3779f55c-2e33-11ea-bcb3-ac6482c4a92f_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/iran-strike-live-update...
    - clairity 6y ago
      yup, trump hates war because it's bad for the businesses he's in (like real estate and luxury branding), but drone strikes don't have that downside.
  - patagurbon 6y ago
    He killed a general from an opposition nation state...
  - kzrdude 6y ago
    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/13/world/asia/moab-mother-of-all-bombs-afghanistan.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/13/world/asia/moab-mother-of... > President Trump has bestowed additional authority on the Pentagon in his first months in office, which the military has argued will help it defeat the Islamic State more speedily. Mr. Trump did not say whether he had personally approved Thursday’s mission. > “What I do is I authorize my military,” Mr. Trump said after a meeting with emergency workers at the White House. He called the bombing “another very, very successful mission.” I think we can imagine being more anti-war than Trump. Do you remember Jimmy Carter? Being anti-war means deescalation, diplomacy and solving problems without violence.

MattBearman 6y ago

One theory is it's a tweet scheduling platform, rather than Twitter itself that was hacked.

ceejayoz 6y ago
No. Clicking into a tweet shows you which app was used to post it. https://help.twitter.com/en/using-twitter/how-to-tweet#source-labels https://help.twitter.com/en/using-twitter/how-to-tweet#sourc... These tweets are showing up as being posted from the Twitter web interface.
- throwaway43234 6y ago
  Its not hard to fathom that someone who was able to pull off a hack like this could have also found a way to mess with the metadata there.
  - maest 6y ago
    Idle speculation isn't very helpful.
    - throwaway43234 6y ago
      Parent takes the posted-from metadata as absolute truth. I say it can't be relied upon when an active & involved hack is underway. You provide nothing of value. What do you think this entire thread is, but for idle speculation?
  - mod 6y ago
    It kinda is, if the premise is "they hacked a 3rd party app"
- kuschku 6y ago
  Tweets posted through Twitter's ads platform, even non-ads scheduled tweets, will show up as normal twitter web posts. And approved partners can use the corresponding API to post this way.

lima 6y ago

Might be a third party client, browser extension, insider threat... not necessarily a compromise of the Twitter backend.

tqkxzugoaupvwqr 6y ago

Suggestion on Twitter is a third-party app that has write access to the accounts was compromised.

lessname 6y ago

I do not think that a 3rd party tweet scheduling program has been hacked, because the tweets say they have been sent by “Twitter Web App”. Maybe the new feature on twitter.com to schedule tweets has a security vulnerability?

ilarum 6y ago

The email address associated with the account(s) appear to have been changed as well: https://twitter.com/sniko_/status/1283485972286656517 https://twitter.com/sniko_/status/1283485972286656517