High-profile twitter accounts hacked in Bitcoin scam

KATHMANDU: In an episode of a very conspicuous security breach on a social media site, a wave of high-profile Twitter account hacks to offer fake Bitcoin deals sent alerts flying in the wee hours Thursday.

The official Twitter accounts of billionaires Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos were hacked, seeking bitcoin donations.

Former US President Barack Obama's account also posted similar messages on digital currency.

Likewise, accounts of US Presidential candidate Joe Biden and former mayor of New York City Mike Bloomberg were also compromised.

Musician Kanye West, Apple and Uber's handles were also hacked.

The tweets on the accounts soliciting crypto currency were later deleted. 

Twitter support said that they are investigating the incident and taking steps to fix it. "Most accounts should be able to Tweet again. As we continue working on a fix, this functionality may come and go. We're working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible."

https://twitter.com/TwitterSupport/status/1283518038445223936?s=19

This is not the first instance of a high-profile account hacking on Twitter. Twitter's CEO Jack Dorsey himself was the victim of online hacking in 2019.

However, the broad nature of the attack this time have led to speculations of a wider internal access to Twitter controls.