Experts say Twitter breach might undermine trust

A breach in Twitter’s security that allowed hackers to break into the accounts of leaders and technology moguls is one of the worst attacks in recent years and may shake trust in a platform politicians and CEOS use to communicate with the public, experts said Thursday.

The FBI said Thursday it is investigating the hacks, and said the high-profile accounts “appear to have been compromised in order to perpetuate cryptocurrency fraud.”

Twitter said the hackers used “social engineering” to target some of the company’s employees and then gained access to the accounts.

The term refers to taking advantage of human nature via phishing attacks, tricking people into downloading malicious software or compromising them by offering something in return for information. Twitter did not say how its employees were compromised.

Cybersecurity experts say such a breach could have dire consequences since the attackers were tweeting from verified, globally influential accounts with millions of followers.

“If you receive a tweet from a verified account, belonging to a well-known and therefore trusted person, you can no longer assume it’s really from them,” said Michael

Gazeley, managing director of cybersecurity firm Network Box.

Reacting to the breach, Twitter swiftly deleted the tweets and locked down the accounts to investigate. In the process it prevented verified users from sending out tweets for several hours.

The company said Thursday it has taken “significant steps to limit access to internal systems and tools.” User passwords did not appear to have been compromised, Twitter said, so it’s not necessary for users to reset them.

Several U.S. lawmakers called on Twitter to cooperate with authorities including the Department of Justice and the FBI to secure the site after the latest breach.