The hacking spree that hit Twitter targetting the most followed personalities is now being questioned for the platform's security as the United States election nears. 

Hacking
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The extraordinary hacking spree that hit Twitter is now being questioned by different experts. The hacking primarily targets Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, former President Barrack Obama, actress Kim Kardashian, and even tech billionaire Elon Musk.

Twitter is an American microblogging and social networking service. The social media platform was created by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams in March 2006, but it was launched in July. As of 2018, Twitter had an average of more than 321 million monthly active users. 

The company released a statement regarding the hacking spree. In a series of tweets, the company said they strongly believed that it was a coordinated social engineering attack by people, who successfully targeted their employees with access to their internal systems and tools, according to a published report by Reuters. 

The company added that hackers took advantage by taking control of many highly-visible accounts and tweeted on their behalf. The confirmation of the company about the hacking incident alarms security experts that the platform itself, rather than the users, had been compromised.

This also raises fears as the U.S. election nears. Hackers could compromise the upcoming November 3 election or the national security. Twitter plays a significant role as a communication platform for political candidates and public officials. 

The hackers pose as celebrities and wealthy. They then asked the followers to send digital currency called bitcoin to a series of addresses. 

According to blockchain forensics company Elliptic, the hacking incident has illegally collected 400 bitcoin that is worth $120,000. Around 50 percent of the victims are coming from the U.S.

But the forensic company said since the bitcoin transfers left history, it could help the investigators identify the perpetrators or the hackers. They also said that financial may be limited because multiple transfers were blocked after hackers targetted their own Twitter account.

Dan Guido, CEO of security company Trail of Bits, said he was astonished by how Twitter responded to the hacking spree as it took them five hours to take control of the hacking incident. 

Aside from illegally asking and transferring fr bitcoins, what is more, alarming is the possibility of harvesting private messages from Twitter holders like Elo Musk, Kim Kardashian, former President Barrack Obama, and more. 

"We're looking into what other malicious activity they may have conducted or information they may have accessed and will share more here as we have it," said Twitter, which seemed to be not certain about what the hackers may have done beyond sending the bitcoin messages. 

The security breach has been one of the issues in the U.S. Cyberattack has also increased during the pandemic. In fact, in an article published by Bloomberg, a cyberattack also hit the U.S. Health Agency amid the global pandemic. 

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