Twitter: Hack hit 130 accounts, company 'embarrassed'
Oakland (US): Twitter says the hack that compromised the accounts of some of its most high-profile users targeted 130 people. The hackers were able to reset the passwords of 45 of those accounts.
The San Francisco-based company said in a blog post Saturday that for up to eight of these accounts the attackers also downloaded the account's information through the Your Twitter Data tool.
None of the eight were verified accounts, Twitter said, adding that it is contacting the owners of the affected accounts.
We're embarrassed, we're disappointed, and more than anything, we're sorry. We know that we must work to regain your trust, and we will support all efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice, Twitter said in the blog post.
The July 17 attack broke into the Twitter accounts of world leaders, celebrities and tech moguls in one of the most high-profile security breaches in recent years.
The attackers sent out tweets from the accounts of the public figures, offering to send 2,000 for every 1,000 sent to an anonymous Bitcoin address.
It highlighted a major flaw with the 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 the people behind the attack appear to have come from the OG community, a group interested in original, short Twitter handles such as @a, @b or @c, for instance.
"Based upon what we have seen, the motivation for the most recent Twitter attack is similar to previous incidents we have observed in the OG community a combination of financial incentive, technical bragging rights, challenge, and disruption, Nixon wrote.
The OG community is not known to be tied to any nation state. Rather they are a disorganized crime community with a basic skillset and are a loosely organized group of serial fraudsters.
While this attack did not appear go further than the Bitcoin ruse at least for now it raises questions about Twitter's ability to secure its service against election interference and misinformation ahead of the 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 not know that the fraud has occurred, and generally cannot take security precautions to prevent it.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Man arrested for duping Delhi resident of Rs 2 lakh in online car sale fraud
New Delhi (PTI): Police have arrested a 32-year-old man for allegedly duping a Delhi resident of Rs 2 lakh on the pretext of selling a second-hand car online, an official said on Saturday.
The accused, identified as Aman Sethi, a resident of Shiv Puri Extension in east Delhi, allegedly impersonated an employee of a reputed online car sale platform to gain the victim's trust, the police said.
The case came to light after a complaint was lodged by Harish, a resident of Trilokpuri, following which an FIR was registered on April 16 under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Sethi was arrested on Friday.
According to the complainant, the accused contacted the victim and offered to sell a second-hand car. He allegedly convinced him to transfer Rs 2 lakh as booking and processing charges.
After receiving the money, the accused neither delivered the vehicle nor refunded the amount and stopped responding to calls.
A police team conducted a detailed financial and technical investigation and traced the money trail to a bank account in the accused's name.
"Analysis of KYC details, account activity and digital footprints helped identify the suspect," a senior police officer said.
The police said the accused had vacated his known address and was evading arrest, but was eventually tracked down through technical surveillance and local intelligence after multiple raids in Delhi-NCR.
During interrogation, Sethi allegedly tried to mislead investigators but was confronted with evidence and subsequently arrested. Further probe revealed his involvement in a similar cheating case registered at the Krishna Nagar police station, indicating a pattern of such offences.
The police said the accused targeted people searching for second-hand cars online by posing as an employee of vehicle sale platforms, sharing photographs and details of vehicles, and demanding advance payments in personal bank accounts.
Two debit cards, two mobile phones and SIM cards allegedly used in the offence have been recovered from his possession, the police added.
