Twitter: Hack hit 130 accounts, company 'embarrassed'

Twitter says hack that compromised accounts of some of its most high-profile users targeted 130 people. hackers were able to reset passwords of 45 of those accounts. San Francisco=based company said in a blog post Saturday that for up to eight of se accounts attackers also downloed account’s information through “Your Twitter Data” tool. ne of eight were verified accounts, Twitter said, ding that it is contacting owners of affected accounts.

“We’re embarrassed, we’re disappointed, and more than anything, we’re sorry. We kw that we must work to regain your trust, and we will support all efforts to bring perpetrators to justice,” Twitter said in blog post. July 17 attack broke into Twitter accounts of world leers, celebrities and tech moguls in one of most high-profile security breaches in recent years. attackers sent out tweets from accounts of public figures, offering to send $2,000 for every $1,000 sent to an anymous Bitcoin dress.

It highlighted a major flaw with service millions of people have come to rely on as an essential communications tool.Allison Nixon, chief research officer at cybersecurity firm 221B said in an email Sunday that people behind attack appear to have come from “OG” community, a group interested in original, short Twitter handles such as @a, @b or @c, for instance.

"Based upon what we have seen, motivation for most recent Twitter attack is similar to previous incidents we have observed in OG community — a combination of financial incentive, technical bragging rights, challenge, and disruption,” Nixon wrote. “ OG community is t kwn to be tied to any nation state. Rar y are a disorganized crime community with a basic skillset and are a loosely organized group of serial fraudsters.”

While this attack did t appear go furr than Bitcoin ruse — at least for w — it raises questions about Twitter’s ability to secure its service against election interference and misinformation ahe of U.S. presidential election.“Entire markets and potentially elections may be manipulated or altered in this way,” Nixon said. "Victims of account takeovers generally do t kw that fraud has occurred, and generally cant take security precautions to prevent it.”

(Im Credit: AP)