Twitter Phishing Attack Claiming Fake Security Breach

Social Media has tremendous sway over our culture. Which is why when it get’s hacked–we’ve got big problems.

Last July, as many of you recall, Twitter was hacked in an infamous social engineering attack.

According to Twitter, “This attack relied on a significant and concerted attempt to mislead certain employees and exploit human vulnerabilities to gain access to our internal systems. This was a striking reminder of how important each person on our team is in protecting our service.”

The attack allowed hackers control of over one hundred high-profile accounts—from high level politicians to celebrities. The hackers then used these accounts to scam Twitter followers out of money.

But it didn’t stop there! Now, cybercriminals are using this event as bait for another convincing phishing scam.

The phishing email uses language that is almost identical to the official statement that Twitter made in response to the July attack. Uh Oh!

The email claims that due to a security breach, you must confirm your identity by clicking on a link in the email. If you click the link, you are redirected to a site that looks very similar to the real Twitter login page. The site is actually a look-alike designed to steal your login credentials. Any information that you enter on this page is delivered straight to the bad guys.

It’s a hoax! Follow these tips instead:

• Never click on a link within an email that you weren’t expecting.
• When you’re asked to log in to an account or online service, navigate to the official website and log in. That way, you can ensure you’re logging in to the real site and not a phony look-alike.
• Email security filters can only do so much to protect you from malicious emails. Stay alert and help create a human firewall for your organization.

If you need assistance with your business cybersecurity needs contact us at [email protected].

Source: https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2020/an-update-on-our-security-incident.html

Knowbe4

Image Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/coffee-smartphone-twitter-application-58639/