- Can Apple Computers Be Hacked
- Can A Mac Get Hacked
- My Mac Has Been Hacked
- Can Pages For Mac Be Hacked Without
The official Twitter accounts of Apple, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and others were hijacked on Wednesday by scammers trying to dupe people into sending cryptocurrency bitcoin, in a massive hack.
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The list of accounts commandeered grew rapidly to include Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Uber, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, bitcoin specialty firms and many others.
“Tough day for us at Twitter,” chief executive Jack Dorsey said in a tweet.
“We all feel terrible this happened. We’re diagnosing and will share everything we can when we have a more complete understanding of exactly what happened.”
The Biden campaign told AFP that Twitter locked down the hacked account quickly and removed the bogus tweet.
Twitter disabled the ability to tweet from validated accounts, those with the official blue checkmarks, for about two hours while working on a fix.
“Most accounts should be able to Tweet again,” the Twitter support team said in an evening update of the situation.
“As we continue working on a fix, this functionality may come and go. We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible.”
The duplicitous posts, which were largely deleted, were fired off from the array of high-profile accounts telling people they had 30 minutes to send $1,000 in bitcoin in order to be sent back twice as much.
“This is a SCAM, DO NOT participate!” Gemini cryptocurrency exchange co-founder Cameron Winklevoss warned from his official account on Twitter.
“This is the same attack/takeover that other major crypto twitter accounts are experiencing. Be vigilant!”
BitTorrent chief executive Justin Sun is offering a $1 million reward for finding the Twitter hackers and bringing them to justice, according to media reports.
-‘Giving back’-
The site Blockchain.com, which monitors transactions made in cryptocurrencies, said a total of 12.58 bitcoins, worth almost $116,000, had been sent to the email addresses mentioned in the fraudulent tweets.
The tweet that appeared on Musk’s Twitter feed said, “Happy Wednesday! I am giving back Bitcoin to all of my followers. I am doubling all payments sent to the Bitcoin address below. You send 0.1 BTC, I send 0.2 BTC back!”
It added that the offer was “only going on for 30 minutes.”
The fake messages that appeared on the accounts of other famous personalities made similar promises of instant riches.
The account of US President Donald Trump, which has more than 83 million followers, was not among those hacked.
“Given the accounts that got hacked more recently (Apple, Uber, Gates, Musk, etc), I am now leaning towards this being an internal compromise of a Twitter system, not an API attack from a social aggregator service,” bitcoin authority and author Andreas Antonopoulos said in a tweet from his @aantonop account.
Rachel Tobac of cyber-security firm SocialProof Security theorized that hackers got control of a Twitter employee’s administrative access to “take over a prominent account and tweet on their behalf.”
As evening arrived on Twitter home turf in San Francisco, the company continued to investigate what happened.
A version of the scam invited people to click on a link at which they would be exploited.
“All major crypto Twitter accounts have been compromised,” Winklevoss warned in a tweet.
Among the hacked accounts was @gemini, used by the crypto-exchange, according to his twin brother and co-founder Tyler Winklevoss.
Twitter has been targeted by hackers in the past.
In March 2017, the accounts of Amnesty International, the French economics ministry and the BBC’s North America service were broken into by hackers believed to have been loyal to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Last August, a series of insulting or racist messages were posted on the personal account of Twitter founder Dorsey without his knowledge.
Signs your Apple ID has been compromised
Can Apple Computers Be Hacked
Your Apple ID might be compromised if you receive an account notification from Apple for a change you didn't make, or if you notice account details or changes you don’t recognize. For example:
- You receive an email or notification that your Apple ID was used to sign in to a device you don't recognize or did not sign in to recently (for example, 'Your Apple ID was used to sign in to iCloud on a Windows PC').
- You receive a confirmation email from Apple that your Apple ID password was changed or your account information was updated, but you don’t remember making any changes.
- Your device was locked or placed in Lost Mode by someone other than you.
- You see messages you didn't send, or items you didn’t delete.
- You see charges or notices for purchases that you didn't make. Learn what to do if you see an unfamiliar iTunes Store or App Store charge on your credit or debit card statement.
- Your password no longer works, or it might have been changed or locked.
- You don't recognize some or all of your account details.
If you received an email, text message, or phone call that you're not sure is valid or you think might be phishing, here are some tips to help determine its legitimacy.
Gain control of your Apple ID
If you think your Apple ID is compromised, use these steps to gain control of it and review your account information:
- Sign in to your Apple ID account page. If you can't sign in or you receive a message that the account is locked when you try to sign in, try to reset or unlock your account.
- Change your Apple ID password and choose a strong password.
- Review all the personal and security information in your account. Update any information that isn't correct or that you don’t recognize, including:
- Your name.
- Your primary Apple ID email address.* If you need to change your email address, update the features and services that you use with Apple ID, so that each one is using your updated Apple ID.
- All alternate email addresses, rescue email addresses, and phone numbers.
- The devices that are associated with your Apple ID, if you've already set up two-factor authentication.
- Security questions and answers. If you think they might be easy to guess, you should change your security questions.
- Check with your email address* provider to make sure that you control every email address associated with your Apple ID. If you don't control the email addresses associated with the Apple ID, you should change the password for the email address or use a different email address.
- Set up two-factor authentication for your Apple ID. This additional security feature is designed to prevent anyone from accessing your account, even if they know your password.
* In China mainland and India, you can use your phone number as your Apple ID.
If you completed the steps above and think your account might still be compromised, contact Apple Support.
Know which Apple ID is signed in to your device
If you're signed in on your device with an Apple ID that you don't recognize, use these steps to sign out, then back in with a different Apple ID. To make sure that you're signed in to Apple IDs that only you control or trust, you can check the following settings on each of your devices:
iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch:
- Settings > [your name]
- Settings > [your name] > iTunes & App Store
- Settings > Messages > Send & Receive
- Settings > FaceTime
Mac:
- System Preferences > Apple ID
- System Preferences > Internet Accounts
- Messages > Preferences > Accounts
- Facetime > Preferences > Settings
- Mail > Preferences > Accounts
- Calendar > Preferences > Accounts
Can A Mac Get Hacked
You should also check iCloud for Windows, your AirPort Time Capsule or other AirPort Base Station, and your Apple TV (for iCloud Photos or Home Sharing).
Make sure your Apple ID is secure
Because you use your Apple ID for so many Apple products and services, you should make sure that your Apple ID is as secure as possible. You should be the only person who knows your password and can sign in with your Apple ID. If someone you don’t know or don’t trust can sign in with your Apple ID, your account is not secure.
My Mac Has Been Hacked
Your Apple ID might not be secure for the following reasons:
- Someone else created an Apple ID on your behalf, or you’re using an Apple ID that was already signed in when you received your device.
- You’re sharing an Apple ID with family or friends. Your Apple ID is your personal account. If you want to share purchases with a family member, use Family Sharing. With Family Sharing, you can share a calendar, photos, reminders, and more without sharing your Apple ID.
- You don’t recognize the Apple ID that is signed in on your device.
- You shared your password with someone else intentionally or unintentionally. For example, someone else selected your password for you, you told someone your password, or you entered your password on a phishing site.
- You don't have control of the email address or phone number associated with your Apple ID.
- Your password is weak or is compromised.
- You share your devices with someone else, your devices are not protected by a passcode, or your passcode is easy to guess.
Can Pages For Mac Be Hacked Without
If any of the above are true, you should reset your password as soon as possible and review your account information.