The issue is seen as a potential vote winner for Biden as he faces Republican Donald Trump in a tough election rematch this November
americas3 hours ago
Twitter is probing a massive hack of high-profile users from Elon Musk to Joe Biden that has raised questions about the platform's security as it serves as a megaphone for politicians ahead of November's election.
Posts trying to dupe people into sending hackers the virtual currency Bitcoin were tweeted by the official accounts of Apple, Uber, Kanye West, Bill Gates, Barack Obama and many others on Wednesday.
"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 said.
The fraudulent posts, which were largely deleted, said people had 30 minutes to send $1,000 (Dh3,673) in the cryptocurrency, promising they would receive twice as much in return.
A total of 12.58 bitcoins -- worth almost $116,000 (Dh426,000) -- were sent to email addresses mentioned in the tweets, according to Blockchain.com, which monitors crypto transactions.
"We advise the public not to fall victim to this scam by sending cryptocurrency or money in relation to this incident," said the FBI's San Francisco division, which was investigating.
The account of President Donald Trump, which has 83.5 million followers, was not targeted.
"The president will remain on Twitter," White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said. "His account was secure and not jeopardised during these attacks."
With the presidential election just over three months away, the influence that social media platforms have on politics has become a hotly debated issue.
Just hours before Wednesday's hack, the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Reform called for the appointment of a national cybersecurity czar.
In a sign of their growing role in public life, social media have become essential tools, especially in times of crisis.
"For US decision-makers, Twitter presents a bit of a paradox," said Heather Williams and Alexi Drew, who just published a book on Twitter's place in diplomacy for the Centre for Science and Security Studies at King's College in London.
"Tweets from government officials may help shape the American public narrative and provide greater insights into US decision-making to reduce misperception by foreign actors," they wrote.
"On the other hand, tweets may increase misperception and sow confusion during crises, creating escalation incentives for an adversary," Williams and Drew wrote.
The issue is seen as a potential vote winner for Biden as he faces Republican Donald Trump in a tough election rematch this November
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