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> selling or using insider information, blackmail, shorting Tesla, taking out politicians, etc. Can't it just be that they're not that knowledgeable about stuf

> selling or using insider information, blackmail, shorting Tesla, taking out politicians, etc. Can't it just be that they're not that knowledgeable about stuff outside their domain? The things you mentioned require knowledge of stocks and politics. If I, personally, woke up tomorrow with access to a Twitter backdoor and the desire to exploit it, I wouldn't know how to do any of those things, because I also don't know anything about stocks or politics.

ALittleLight 6y ago
It would be pretty easy. You could just post on reddit or 4chan and ask "If you could make anyone on Twitter post anything, what's the most you could earn?" And people who know a lot about a lot of things would give you ideas. It's just not smart to use the hack for just this. Example: Contact Trump's kids. Demonstrate your power. Tell them you'll make Joe Biden tweet "8 year old girl nude hair" at a time of their choosing, in exchange for 5 million BTC held in escrow. This doesn't require anything more than knowing that Trump is rich and corrupt and that Biden is his opponent. A variation of this is that you demonstrate the power to rich public figures and tell them that unless they pay you X, you'll do it to them to make them look bad. Then you don't even need to use your exploit. I think this was probably worth tens of millions, and they blew it on 100k.
- ricardobeat 6y ago
  5 million BTC is about US$45 billion.
  - WrtCdEvrydy 6y ago
    He probably meant $5 million USD in BTC.
- bondarchuk 6y ago
  > Example: Contact Trump's kids. Demonstrate your power. Tell them you'll make Joe Biden tweet "8 year old girl nude hair" at a time of their choosing, in exchange for 5 million BTC held in escrow. This doesn't require anything more than knowing that Trump is rich and corrupt and that Biden is his opponent. And then you get tracked down and killed by a three-letter agency. I think people underestimate how risk-free receiving small amounts of btc from random schmucks is, and how risk-averse these hackers may be.
  - rurp 6y ago
    > I think people underestimate how risk-free receiving small amounts of btc from random schmucks is, I agree with this > and how risk-averse these hackers may be. And I agree with this statement in most cases, but not in this particular one. The wide spread and super high profile nature of this attack makes it a high risk play no matter what. Being cautious when it comes time to collecting the loot seems like too little too late for them to get away easily.

ALittleLight 6y ago

It would be pretty easy. You could just post on reddit or 4chan and ask "If you could make anyone on Twitter post anything, what's the most you could earn?" And people who know a lot about a lot of things would give you ideas. It's just not smart to use the hack for just this. Example: Contact Trump's kids. Demonstrate your power. Tell them you'll make Joe Biden tweet "8 year old girl nude hair" at a time of their choosing, in exchange for 5 million BTC held in escrow. This doesn't require anything more than knowing that Trump is rich and corrupt and that Biden is his opponent. A variation of this is that you demonstrate the power to rich public figures and tell them that unless they pay you X, you'll do it to them to make them look bad. Then you don't even need to use your exploit. I think this was probably worth tens of millions, and they blew it on 100k.

ricardobeat 6y ago
5 million BTC is about US$45 billion.
- WrtCdEvrydy 6y ago
  He probably meant $5 million USD in BTC.
bondarchuk 6y ago
> Example: Contact Trump's kids. Demonstrate your power. Tell them you'll make Joe Biden tweet "8 year old girl nude hair" at a time of their choosing, in exchange for 5 million BTC held in escrow. This doesn't require anything more than knowing that Trump is rich and corrupt and that Biden is his opponent. And then you get tracked down and killed by a three-letter agency. I think people underestimate how risk-free receiving small amounts of btc from random schmucks is, and how risk-averse these hackers may be.
- rurp 6y ago
  > I think people underestimate how risk-free receiving small amounts of btc from random schmucks is, I agree with this > and how risk-averse these hackers may be. And I agree with this statement in most cases, but not in this particular one. The wide spread and super high profile nature of this attack makes it a high risk play no matter what. Being cautious when it comes time to collecting the loot seems like too little too late for them to get away easily.