High-profile Twitter accounts hacked in cryptocurrency scam
A series of high-profile Twitter accounts were hijacked on Wednesday, with some of the platform’s top voices — including US presidential candidate Joe Biden, reality television show star Kim Kardashian, former US President Barack Obama, billionaire Elon Musk, and rapper Kanye West, among many others — used to solicit digital currency.
The cause of the breach was not immediately clear, but the unusual scope of the problem suggested that it was not limited to a single account or service. While account compromises are not unusual, experts were surprised at the sheer scale and coordination of the Wednesday’s incident.
Twitter said it was investigating what it called a “security incident” and would be issuing a statement shortly. Shares in the social media company tumbled almost 5 percent in trading after the market close before paring their losses.
Publicly available blockchain records show that the apparent scammers have already received more than $100,000 worth of cryptocurrency.
