They are fearless hackers who tend to target high profile twitter accounts – and not even the CEO’s and Founders of the biggest tech companies in the world are immune to their antics.
Over the weekend Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey had his Twitter account hacked – and apparently a group of hackers identifying themselves as the Chuckling Squad were behind it.
Apparently, this group of hackers has been stirring up mischief for a while. They claimed to be the masterminds behind other hacked accounts, such as beauty vlogger James Charles account.
Twitter has now confirmed they’ve dealt with the issue and restored Dorsey’s access to the account, but only after the hackers posted a series of distressing tweets from his @Jack account.
But how on earth did the hackers gain access to one of the biggest tech guru’s Twitter account?
Apparently, the processed they use to gain access to the account was very simple and straightforward.
According to The Verge “. . . the hackers got in through Twitter’s text-to-tweet service, operated by the acquired service Cloudhopper.”
“Using Cloudhopper, Twitter users can post tweets by texting messages to a shortcode number, usually 40404. It’s a useful trick for SimplePhones or if you just don’t have access to the Twitter app. The system only requires linking your phone number to your Twitter account, which most users already do for separate security reasons. As a result, control of your phone number is usually enough to post tweets to your account, and most users have no idea.”
This technique is also known as “simswaping” or “simjacking”, according to the BBC.
Thankfully, Twitter has affirmed the platform was in no way compromised.
The account is now secure, and there is no indication that Twitter's systems have been compromised.
— Twitter Comms (@TwitterComms) August 30, 2019
The mishap was blamed on an unrevealed mobile service provider and was connected to the phone number associated with his account and not Twitter’s system.
Dorsey has now regained access to his Twitter account and the rude tweets have been deleted.
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