Security News
Twitter, now renamed X, is testing new $1 annual subscriptions to provide unverified accounts access to core features like tweeting and retweeting. Set up as a recurring subscription service, the program provides unverified Twitter accounts with what the company describes as "Write-level functionality."
"Based on your consent, we may collect and use your biometric information for safety, security, and identification purposes," the company said. The social media behemoth told Bloomberg, which first reported the development, that the change is limited to premium users and that a biometric matching process "Will also help X fight impersonation attempts and make the platform more secure."
Turns out, Apple's App Store can't accept the new name for Twitter's iOS app because of minimum character requirements. This week, both Google Play and Apple's App Store pushed updated versions of the Twitter app respectively for Android and iOS users.
Microsoft Edge web browser has been displaying security warnings after Twitter changed its name to 'X'. Amid its rapid rebranding over the last few days, Twitter has also ditched the famed bird icon for a Unicode character which resembles the letter X but infact bears Mathematical meaning. Microsoft Edge warns this is a potential security issue-and it's working as intended.
Instagram's dedicated text-sharing app, Threads, is set to introduce many new features, including Twitter-style hashtags, an edit button, a trending page, and possibly even an automatic archiving function. Instagram's Head, Adam Mosseri, confirmed these upcoming features in a series of posts on Threads.
Instagram Threads, the upcoming Twitter competitor from Meta, will not be launched in the European Union due to privacy concerns, according to Ireland's Data Protection Commission. Threads is Meta's answer to Twitter that's set for launch on July 6, 2023.
Forget crypto spam accounts, Twitter's got another problem which involves bots and accounts promoting adult content and infiltrating Direct Messages and interactions on the platform. In a tweet, security research group, MalwareHunterTeam exposed multiple Twitter accounts that are spam bots injecting themselves within interactions in the form of likes.
BleepingComputer did not reach out to Twitter because the media contact email has been set up to auto-reply with a crappy emoji after Elon Musk acquired the company in October and took over as CEO. Back in April, Twitter disabled the search field for unregistered users and only showing several suggested tweets when going to the homepage. Twitter also capped its free API in early February, asking for at least $100 per month when requesting write or read access to large amounts of tweets.
If you say THE Twitter hack, everyone knows you mean the one that happened in July 2020, when a small group of cybercriminals ended up in control of a small number of Twitter accounts and used them to talk up a cryptocoin fraud. SIM swaps are where a criminal sweet-talks, bribes or coerces a mobile phone provider into issuing them with a "Replacment" SIM card for someone else's number, typically under the guise of wanting to buy a new phone or urgently needing to replace a lost SIM. The victim's SIM card goes dead, and the crook starts receiving their calls and text messages, notably including any two-factor authentication codes needed for secure logins or password resets.
A U.K. citizen who took part in the massive July 2020 hack of Twitter has been sentenced to five years in prison in the U.S. Joseph James O'Connor, 24, was awarded the sentence on Friday in the Southern District of New York, a little over a month after he pleaded guilty to the criminal schemes. The infamous Twitter breach allowed the defendant and his co-conspirators to obtain unauthorized access to backend tools used by Twitter, abusing them to hijack 130 popular accounts to perpetrate a crypto scam that netted them about $120,000 in illegal profits.