Twitter Says Hackers Accessed the Direct Messages of 36 Accounts in Last Week's Breach

Twitter is continuing to investigate last week's security breach that saw the Twitter accounts of Apple and other high-profile figures and companies hacked by bitcoin scammers, and today the social media company confirmed that hackers accessed the Direct Messages of 36 Twitter accounts.

apple bitcoin hack
Twitter previously said that no passwords were stolen in the hack, which was a "coordinated social engineering attack" that targeted Twitter employees. Hackers were able to gain access to employee credentials, using that information to access Twitter's internal systems, including bypassing two-factor authentication protections.


The internal tools were used to target 130 accounts, and for 45 of those accounts, hackers initiated a password reset and had full access to the account to send tweets. For eight of the Twitter accounts, the attackers downloaded account information through the "Your Twitter Data" tool that provides Twitter account details and activity, but none of the eight accounts targeted in this way were verified accounts.

For the 130 accounts that were breached, which included the accounts of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, former U.S. President Barack Obama, former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, presidential candidate Joe Biden, and others, hackers were able to see personal information like email addresses and phone numbers, and for some accounts taken over, additional information was available.

Twitter has not provided specific details on which of the 36 accounts saw their DMs breached, but hackers did access the DMs of one elected official in the Netherlands. No other former or current elected official had their DMs accessed.

Twitter is communicating directly with the account holders that were impacted and is further securing its system to prevent future attacks. As part of its efforts to stop something similar from happening again, Twitter is rolling out additional company-wide training to guard against social engineering tactics.

Tag: Twitter

Popular Stories

AirPods Pro 3 Mock Feature

AirPods Pro 3 Just Months Away – Here's What We Know

Friday April 18, 2025 5:16 am PDT by
Despite being more than two years old, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 still dominate the premium wireless‑earbud space, thanks to a potent mix of top‑tier audio, class‑leading noise cancellation, and Apple's habit of delivering major new features through software updates. With AirPods Pro 3 widely expected to arrive in 2025, prospective buyers now face a familiar dilemma: snap up the proven...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday April 17, 2025 4:12 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
Beyond iPhone 13 Better Triad

Apple's 20th Anniversary iPhone May Finally Go All Screen

Tuesday April 15, 2025 6:31 am PDT by
Apple is preparing a "bold" new iPhone Pro model for the iPhone's 20th anniversary in 2027, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. As part of what's being described as a "major shake-up," Apple is said to be developing a design that makes more extensive use of glass – and this could point directly to the display itself. Here's the case for Apple releasing a truly all-screen iPhone with no...
maxresdefault

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Sunday April 13, 2025 7:52 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of April 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and ...
CarPlay Hero

Apple Releases Wireless CarPlay Fix

Wednesday April 16, 2025 11:28 am PDT by
If you have been experiencing issues with wireless CarPlay in your vehicle lately, it was likely due to a software bug that has now been fixed. Apple released iOS 18.4.1 today, and the update's release notes say it "addresses a rare issue that prevents wireless CarPlay connection in certain vehicles." If wireless CarPlay was acting up for you, updating your iPhone to iOS 18.4.1 should...
top stories 2025 04 19

Top Stories: iPhone 17 Pro Rumors, CarPlay Bug Fix, and More

Saturday April 19, 2025 6:00 am PDT by
This week saw rumor updates on the iPhone 17 Pro and next-generation Vision Pro, while a minor iOS 18.4.1 update delivered not just security fixes but also a fix for some CarPlay issues. We also looked ahead at what else is in Apple's pipeline for the rest of 2025 and even the 20th-anniversary iPhone coming in 2027, so read on below for all the details on these stories and more! iPhone 17 ...
iOS 19 Roundup Feature

iOS 19 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Tuesday April 15, 2025 7:37 am PDT by
The first iOS 19 beta is less than two months away, and there are already a handful of new features that are expected with the update. Apple should release the first iOS 19 beta to developers immediately following the WWDC 2025 keynote, which is scheduled for Monday, June 9. Following beta testing, the update should be released to the general public in September. Below, we recap the key...

Top Rated Comments

Apple_Robert Avatar
62 months ago
I am glad I got rid of Twitter a while back. I am social media free on my devices, except for MacRumors. :D
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Populus Avatar
62 months ago

Stoked the USA didn't "declare war" during this debacle.
Wow, I hadn't thought about what they (the hackers) could have done if they had accessed certain leader twitter... It gives me the shivers.


I am glad I got rid of Twitter a while back. I am social media free on my devices, except for MacRumors. :D
I did too, 6 years ago (more or less) and I'm glad to be free of all that tension, hate and aggressiveness I sometimes see on Twitter.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jchap Avatar
62 months ago
"Social engineering" = "hacked by someone inside Twitter, who had the knowledge, ability and motivation to do this." Of course, Twitter implies that the perpetrator was outside of the company, and they seem to be inferring that Twitter's employees were somehow coerced or "socially engineered" into doing this without their knowledge.

No amount of internal training will prevent this kind of result.

Twitter needs to review their protocols that allow employees to access and modify said data in the first place. Someone had full access to a database that should have been carefully restricted only to those who absolutely required access for legal reasons. Did Twitter even go through any internal procedure leading up to the insider gaining said access? Companies that are careful about such things will keep their servers in secure and locked rooms, and meticulously log and monitor all access. They should absolutely know who was in there and which employee accessed their database, unless they are so inept that they have no access logging system.

If the DM database(s) was/were accessible anywhere inside of their corporate network outside of a select few, that is a major problem in and of itself. The fact that Twitter allows this sort of coordinated attack (whether the perpetrator was inside or outside of Twitter's corporate network) to even be possible says something about their security practices.

Ask yourself: do I want to participate in a social network, which is hosted by a company that allows its employees access to my direct messages without just legal cause?
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Makosuke Avatar
62 months ago
It's impressive and extremely lucky that these were small-time and uncreative hackers who apparently hit the social-engineering jackpot--they could have caused a truly disturbing amount of international or financial market chaos but basically just used it on a lame Bitcoin scam and selling a few low-character-count usernames.

Imagine what a well-planned, coordinated action by a state actor, dedicated group of terrorists, clever anarchists, or big-time financial market scammers could have accomplished.

You can be pretty sure that whoever they are they are reconsidering the success of their scam--there is absolutely no way $100K or so split more than one way is worth the international manhunt that's almost certain to result from this.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ghanwani Avatar
62 months ago

Twitter is communicating directly with the account holders that were impacted...
Gates, Obama, Musk and other big guys all communicating with Twitter's frustrating customer service. haha
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nvmls Avatar
62 months ago

Gates, Obama, Musk and other big guys all communicating with Twitter's frustrating customer service. haha
"Welcome to Twitter CS. if you are a celebrity please dial 1"
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)