Security News > 2020 > July > Twitter Confirms it was Hacked in an Unprecedented Cryptocurrency Scam
The Twitter accounts of Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Joe Biden, Apple and Uber have each been hijacked at the same time to push a cryptocurrency scam in an unprecedented breach of Twitter accounts.
Twitter locked down thousands of verified accounts belonging to elite Twitter users and high-profile companies Wednesday afternoon in an effort to prevent hackers from perpetrating a massive cryptocurrency scam.
Soon after the site was taken down a barrage of verified Twitter user accounts began sending out a similar message promoting the same scam.
At the time, Twitter acknowledged the mass account takeover in a tweet stating: "We are aware of a security incident impacting accounts on Twitter. We are investigating and taking steps to fix it. We will update everyone shortly." In a followup tweet, the Twitter Support team said, "You may be unable to Tweet or reset your password while we review and address this incident."
"A much larger concerning notion could be cyber criminals have had access to these accounts or possibly worked their way into a Twitter employee account, and inevitably worked their way into the Twitter backend's administrative systems," McQuiggan said.