Twitter employee involved in mass hacking: Report
'We used a rep that literally done all the work for us'
A Twitter employee helped give hackers access to a number of high-profile accounts on the social media site using an internal tool in the biggest coordinated Twitter hack to date, according to a Motherboard report.
Twitter accounts for Democratic presidential nomineeand former Vice President Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Tesla founder Elon Musk, Apple and others were breached Wednesday night when hackers posted a similar message from each account encouraging users to donate Bitcoin to coronavirus relief.
Jason Koebler, editor-in-chief of Motherboard, the VICE News tech vertical, spoke to two people involved in the mass hacking who told him Twitter employees were involved, he posted in a tweet Wednesday.
The shadows of people holding mobile phones are cast onto a backdrop projected with the Twitter logo in this illustration picture taken in Warsaw September 27, 2013. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
"We spoke to two hackers and we were able to independently verify they were in control of hijacked accounts today," Koebler wrote. "One of them said they paid the Twitter employee to help them take over accounts; not sure on the specifics here at the moment."
EXPERTS SAY TWITTER BREACH TROUBLING, UNDERMINES TRUST
He said in an earlier tweet that after talking to one hacker, he was contacted by a second hacker who was able to confirm that they accessed accounts using an "internal tool" that allowed them to change email addresses associated with those accounts.
"We used a rep that literally done all the work for us," hackers told Motherboard.
They also sent reporters screenshots of an internal tool they used to gain access to the affected accounts, according to the outlet.
JOE BIDEN, JEFF BEZOS AMONG APPARENT HACKING VICTIMS IN BITCOIN TWEET SCAM
The screenshots apparently showed details of a user's account, including whether it had protected status or had been suspended. Twitter removed tweets sharing screenshots of the tool, including one from Koebler, who said Twitter told him it was a mistake in another tweet, Motherboard reported.
A Twitter spokesperson referred to Koebler's tweet saying the instance was a mistake when asked why the screenshot was removed.
Twitter's support account said in a Wednesday tweet that hackers targeted some of the company's employees.
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE
"We detected what we believe to be a coordinated social engineering attack by people who successfully targeted some of our employees with access to internal systems and tools," Twitter wrote. "We know they used this access to take control of many highly-visible (including verified) accounts and Tweet on their behalf. We’re looking into what other malicious activity they may have conducted or information they may have accessed and will share more here as we have it."
Once Twitter became aware of the issue, it temporarily locked affected accounts until they can be restored securely, muted verified accounts and removed all the content hackers posted.
"This was disruptive, but it was an important step to reduce risk. Most functionality has been restored but we may take further actions and will update you if we do," Twitter's support team wrote. "...Internally, we’ve taken significant steps to limit access to internal systems and tools while our investigation is ongoing. More updates to come as our investigation continues."