Twitter: Massive Hack Based on ‘Coordinated Social Engineering Attack,’ Full Extent Not Known

Multiple verified Twitter accounts fell victim to a widespread hack that aimed to scam Twitter users into sending Bitcoin to anonymous accounts, now reports claim that hackers gained access to the accounts with the help of Twitter employees, possibly in exchange for money. The company blamed a “coordinated social engineering attack,” which implies that Twitter employees were tricked into unwittingly helping the hackers.

Motherboard reports that an employee inside Twitter was allegedly convinced to participate in the recent wave of high-profile accounts being hijacked. Leaked screenshots obtained by Motherboard from two sources who hijacked the accounts appear to confirm that the hack was made possible by compromising an employee at the company.

The accounts hijacked include Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden, Former President Barack Obama, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and the official accounts of ride-sharing service Uber and tech giant Apple. One source who alleges to be behind the attack told Motherboard directly, “We used a rep that literally done all the work for us,” adding that the hackers used a Twitter insider that they paid.

Motherboard granted the sources anonymity in exchange for details on how the hack was performed. A Twiter spokesperson told Motherboard that the company is investigating whether the employee hijacked the account directly or simply gave the hackers access to internal Twitter account tools.