NY watchdog attacks Twitter over ‘jarringly easy’ Bitcoin scam hack
The DFS says social media giants need to be regulated for their cybersecurity
Social media hackers could influence markets, says the DFS
Back in July, hackers leveraged accounts belonging to major celebrities like Barack Obama and Elon Musk to promote a “double your Bitcoin” scam in an attack that lasted hours. The DFS’s own Twitter account was also reportedly compromised.
Two weeks later,authorities arrestedan alleged 17-year-old Florida teen mastermind and two others, reportedly slapping the former (as an adult) with 30 felony charges including fraud. He’s hadone court appearanceso far, which reportedly faced constant interruptions by porn-peddling Zoombombers posing as CNN and BBC News employees.
Related Bitcoin wallet addresses suggest the hackers managed to swindle roughly $110,000 from unsuspecting users.
“The implications of the Twitter Hack extend far beyond this garden-variety fraud,” said the DFS. “There are well-documented examples of social media being used to manipulate markets and interfere with elections, often with the simple use of a single compromised account or a group of fake accounts. In the hands of a dangerous adversary, the same access obtained by the [h]ackers – the ability to take control of any Twitter users’ account – could cause even greater harm.”
[Read: Everything we know about how Twitter’s biggest hack went down]
For what it’s worth, the marketdidreact to the attack; Twitter stock opened 4% lower the following morning, representing $1 billion in market value lost.
However, Twitter’s share price quickly recovered throughout the course of the day’s trade. It remains more than 40% up for the year, tracking just ahead of the NASDAQ 100.
“The Twitter Hack demonstrates, more than anything, the risk to society when systemically important institutions are left to regulate themselves. Protecting systemically important social media against misuse is crucial for all of us–consumers, voters, government, and industry. The time for government action is now,” concluded the DFS.
Story byDavid Canellis
David is a tech journalist who loves old-school adventure games, techno and the Beastie Boys. He’s currently on the finance beat.David is a tech journalist who loves old-school adventure games, techno and the Beastie Boys. He’s currently on the finance beat.
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