The Twitter accounts of politicians, celebrities and major companies including Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Apple and Kanye West have been compromised in what appears to be a massive hack of the social media company.
The hack is currently ongoing as of this writing, and it’s unclear who is beyond the scam tweets, which urge followers to send the user money via a Bitcoin wallet address. To deal with the hack, Twitter appears to have taken the unprecedented measure of blocking all verified accounts from tweeting.
Here's a screenshot of a tweet from @Apple hacked and promoting Bitcoin. pic.twitter.com/4L20tBVHXv
— Bernard (@BernardAzar) July 15, 2020
Confirming that Twitter is blocking ALL verified accounts from tweeting. They have flipped the switch.
— Scott Stedman (@ScottMStedman) July 15, 2020
Twitter has been essentially taken down by hackers. The magnitude and full scale of this attack can't overstated. Whoever did this is sitting on a treasure trove of data and content from the most powerful people in the world.
— Scott Stedman (@ScottMStedman) July 15, 2020
The company says it’s currently aware of the issue and working to correct it, writing, “We are aware of a security incident impacting accounts on Twitter. We are investigating and taking steps to fix it. We will update everyone shortly. You may be unable to tweet or reset your password while we review and address this incident.”
We are aware of a security incident impacting accounts on Twitter. We are investigating and taking steps to fix it. We will update everyone shortly.
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) July 15, 2020
The hack is alarming for a number of reasons; it raises concerns over national security (the fact that the Democratic nominee for president can be so easily hacked should raise a few red flags) and data theft.
Stay tuned for more info as it becomes available.
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