The 2020 Twitter Hack – So Many Lessons to Be Learned

In mid-July 2020, the social media site Twitter had over 100 of its most prominent user accounts start to tweet requests to send Bitcoin to specified Bitcoin wallets. The requests promised that the Bitcoin senders would receive their money back doubled, as a gesture of charity amidst the COVID-19 pa...

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Main Authors: Paul D. Witman, Scott Mackelprang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Kennesaw State University 2022-02-01
Series:Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research & Practice
Online Access:https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/jcerp/vol2021/iss2/2/
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author Paul D. Witman
Scott Mackelprang
author_facet Paul D. Witman
Scott Mackelprang
author_sort Paul D. Witman
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description In mid-July 2020, the social media site Twitter had over 100 of its most prominent user accounts start to tweet requests to send Bitcoin to specified Bitcoin wallets. The requests promised that the Bitcoin senders would receive their money back doubled, as a gesture of charity amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The attack appears to have been carried out by a small group of hackers, leveraging social engineering to get access to internal Twitter support tools. These tools allowed the hackers to gain full control of the high-profile user accounts and post messages on their behalf. The attack provides many paths for investigation into the prevention, response, and impacts of cybersecurity breaches.
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spelling doaj-art-cbc2303de9664c88ad5f391508d53d892025-08-20T03:29:35ZengKennesaw State UniversityJournal of Cybersecurity Education, Research & Practice2472-27072022-02-0120212The 2020 Twitter Hack – So Many Lessons to Be LearnedPaul D. Witman0Scott MackelprangCalifornia Lutheran UniversityIn mid-July 2020, the social media site Twitter had over 100 of its most prominent user accounts start to tweet requests to send Bitcoin to specified Bitcoin wallets. The requests promised that the Bitcoin senders would receive their money back doubled, as a gesture of charity amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The attack appears to have been carried out by a small group of hackers, leveraging social engineering to get access to internal Twitter support tools. These tools allowed the hackers to gain full control of the high-profile user accounts and post messages on their behalf. The attack provides many paths for investigation into the prevention, response, and impacts of cybersecurity breaches.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/jcerp/vol2021/iss2/2/
spellingShingle Paul D. Witman
Scott Mackelprang
The 2020 Twitter Hack – So Many Lessons to Be Learned
Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research & Practice
title The 2020 Twitter Hack – So Many Lessons to Be Learned
title_full The 2020 Twitter Hack – So Many Lessons to Be Learned
title_fullStr The 2020 Twitter Hack – So Many Lessons to Be Learned
title_full_unstemmed The 2020 Twitter Hack – So Many Lessons to Be Learned
title_short The 2020 Twitter Hack – So Many Lessons to Be Learned
title_sort 2020 twitter hack so many lessons to be learned
url https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/jcerp/vol2021/iss2/2/
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