How Twitter attacks probably happened
One day in 2019, Jack Dorsey started sending out a string of bizarre tweets. Jack’s followers knew his account had been compromised. What was less obvious to more than 4 million followers was how attackers took control of the Twitter CEO’s account for almost 20 minutes.
Twitter reported hackers had gained access to Dorsey’s profile by effectively stealing his mobile phone number. Jack’s number was compromised due to a “security oversight” by the carrier. While Twitter did not use the phrase “SIM swapping” in its statement, security experts attributed the attack to the popular tactic. Days later, the same thing happened to actress Chloe Moretz, who has over 3 million followers. A scammer who knows your phone number and other personal information will call your wireless carrier pretending to be you. The scammer then requests that your number be transferred to a new SIM card they control. If successful with the impersonation the scammers gain control over your phone which then leads to your data and finances. Scammers use personal info like your birth date or your mother’s maiden name. With this vital info, the scammer can start logging into various services, like Twitter, & changing passwords.
Having taken control over your phone number, the attacker will receive messages with one-time passwords, negating the effectiveness of two-factor authentication.
Chuckling Squad claimed responsibility for the two attacks. Victims included Dorsey and Moretz along with other internet personalities like James Charles and Shane Dawson.
Twitter suffered the most high-profile attacks, Facebook, Snap, Microsoft’s LinkedIn, and Pinterest have also been attacked. These social media services rely on similar security measures, leaving their sites open to SIM hijackers. Scammers sometimes want to wreak havoc, other times they plan more nefarious intentions, such as accessing your banking credentials.
Jack Dorsey became a high-profile victim of SIM swappers in Sept 2019. Scammers are increasingly using SIM swapping to take over phones and going after online accounts. Internet companies are taking a lot of the blame, but the phone carriers are also at fault.
For Twitter, SMS hijacking is uniquely problematic because it has a feature that allows users to tweet by sending a text to the service.
Unfortunately, traditional cell phone companies are not doing much to protect you. But it is not all bad news, there is a cellular phone company named efani that has stepped up and made it more difficult for hackers. efani offers the nation’s most secure mobile service and claims a 100% success rate.
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As reported by CNBC in Sept 2019
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