4 ms·

> How likely is someone to actually take over these accounts? How much damage would it do? We kind of have answers to these questions already: - A rogue emplo

> How likely is someone to actually take over these accounts? How much damage would it do? We kind of have answers to these questions already: - A rogue employee/contractor deactivated Trump's account back in 2017 https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/nov/03/experts-warn-about-security-after-donald-trumps-twitter-account-briefly-deleted https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/nov/03/experts-w... - "130 high-profile Twitter accounts [including Apple, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Bill Gates] were compromised by outside parties to promote a bitcoin scam" using internal Twitter admin tools. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Twitter_account_hijacking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Twitter_account_hijacking The impact of both of these was basically zero.

tschwimmer 4y ago
Is it true that the impact of these incidents was zero? How much money did the bitcoin scam guys get?
saltminer 4y ago
There's also the fact that entire forums exist around selling accounts (or access to accounts). One such site, swapd.co, has a pinned post for Twitter "username claims" and "account recovery", among other things. This site has sold admin panel access that has been responsible for a lot of crypto scams [0] in the past. Nobody's account is safe. Doesn't matter what 2FA methods you use, whether you're verified or not, how many followers you have, all it takes is a couple grand for someone else to take it over. > The impact of both of these was basically zero. Per the Wikipedia article you linked, the attackers got $110k in Bitcoin, which is not "basically zero" (even if the price of BTC has fallen since then). [0]: https://www.web3isgoinggreat.com/?id=researcher-zachxbt-alleges-that-teenager-who-stole-crypto-worth-37-million-in-2020-is-responsible-for-a-spate-of-crypto-related-twitter-hacks https://www.web3isgoinggreat.com/?id=researcher-zachxbt-alle...
- ohgodplsno 4y ago
  If taking over more than 100, extremely high profile accounts with millions upon millions of followers only nets you 100k and puts massive visibility on you, it's basically zero.
  - aaaaaaaaata 4y ago
    And yet it's still happening.

tschwimmer 4y ago

Is it true that the impact of these incidents was zero? How much money did the bitcoin scam guys get?

saltminer 4y ago

There's also the fact that entire forums exist around selling accounts (or access to accounts). One such site, swapd.co, has a pinned post for Twitter "username claims" and "account recovery", among other things. This site has sold admin panel access that has been responsible for a lot of crypto scams [0] in the past. Nobody's account is safe. Doesn't matter what 2FA methods you use, whether you're verified or not, how many followers you have, all it takes is a couple grand for someone else to take it over. > The impact of both of these was basically zero. Per the Wikipedia article you linked, the attackers got $110k in Bitcoin, which is not "basically zero" (even if the price of BTC has fallen since then). [0]: https://www.web3isgoinggreat.com/?id=researcher-zachxbt-alleges-that-teenager-who-stole-crypto-worth-37-million-in-2020-is-responsible-for-a-spate-of-crypto-related-twitter-hacks https://www.web3isgoinggreat.com/?id=researcher-zachxbt-alle...

ohgodplsno 4y ago
If taking over more than 100, extremely high profile accounts with millions upon millions of followers only nets you 100k and puts massive visibility on you, it's basically zero.
- aaaaaaaaata 4y ago
  And yet it's still happening.