Twitter Account Hijacking

Twitter Account Hijacking

Cyberattacks are an increasing challenge that is faced by both individuals and organizations. Social media accounts such as Twitter and Facebook are hacked frequently by hackers, and this has caused a serious security concern. For instance, Twitter is one of the vulnerable social media platforms that is frequently hijacked. When a hijack has been done, it means that the third party has control over the Twitter account in question and even can post information on behalf of the owner without their knowledge (India Today, 2020). Software experts have devised ways of protecting Twitter accounts from attacks, and some of the techniques help a lot in preventing attacks, but there are still loopholes that hackers use.

Therefore, some of the strengths or successes of the available means of protecting Twitter from hijackers are that nowadays, experts have designed Twitter passwords that are uncrackable. Twitter account users have been advised to create long passwords that have over ten characters, including some unique symbols. Such long and complicated passwords make it hard and complicated for hackers to bypass the account security and access the information (Purtill, 2020). The strength or success of the protection tools is disenabling all the notifications.

While using Twitter, some notifications pop up, asking the user to allow certain commands, such as uploading images and entering contact details (Purtill, 2020). Currently, we now have measures to disable such notifications, hence reducing the risks of unsuspecting users logging in their details and thus having third parties access their important information (India Today, 2020). Another major step in the quest of protecting Twitter accounts is that experts in this field have managed to devise ways to monitor and detect phishing.

Some of the weaknesses or failures that the protection mechanisms have displayed are that, first, verification of accounts belonging to prominent people does not have any special protection. These accounts are vulnerable to hackers since hackers target celebrity accounts to gain access to important information they can use elsewhere (Geller, 2020). Secondly, Twitter has failed to guard foreign governments or hackers who use Twitter to troll other people or governments to stir up social network controversies (Geller, 2020). Such people misuse Twitter accounts to spread misinformation, especially during electioneering periods.

Stern measures should be taken to resolve the issues of malicious and deceptive Twitter use to control people and also to prevent celebrity accounts. Twitter, in conjunction with government entities, should devise more special security tools that prominent people could use to protect their accounts (Purtill, 2020). The experts should develop security features that would request users to change their account password after a specific time and update other security features regularly. If the hacker accesses a user’s account, they could easily lose logins once the user accesses their account and changes the password.

My recommendations above would work because it is easier for Twitter to develop a system that would ask the users to change their passwords after some time. Moreover, the recommendation would succeed since many people desperately need security features to keep their information safe (Purtill, 2020). Due to consumer pressure, Twitter soon embarked on building a strong system and security system that made it hard to hijack user accounts. The available evidence shows that Twitter can build such security features as constant password change, blocking reports, prevention of pop-up notifications, enabling two-factor authentication, and more (India Today, 2020). The development of the security features proves that Twitter can even further hinder third parties from accessing user accounts.

References

Geller, E. (2020). Twitter’s security holes are now the nation’s problem. Retrieved from https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/16/twitter-security-hack-congress-366771

India Today (2020). How to protect your Twitter account: Tips to secure your Twitter account from hackers Retrieved from https://www.indiatoday.in/information/story/how-to-protect-your-twitter-account-tips-to-secure-your-twitter-account-from-hackers-1701284-2020-07-17

Purtill, C. (2020). Twitter Security Flaws Pose a Unique Threat to Nuclear Diplomacy, Experts Say. Retrieved from https://onezero.medium.com/twitter-security-flaws-pose-a-unique-threat-to-nuclear-diplomacy-experts-say-b509e0eb2aad

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Twitter Account Hijacking

Background description of the organizational event:
The 2020 Twitter account hijacking (July 15, 2020) was a coordinated cyberattack on Twitter users by malicious hackers who compromised high-profile accounts to promote a Bitcoin scam. The perpetrators were able to gain access to Twitter’s administrative tools to gain control of accounts and post tweets directly through those hacked accounts. The attackers were able to compromise 130 accounts (Elon Musk and Apple, to name a few) and made posts asking users on Twitter to send Bitcoin currency to a specific cryptocurrency wallet. By making these posts, the hackers were able to mislead users by utilizing celebrity accounts to trick them into sending money to them with promises of giving double the amount back to the sender. Within minutes, more than 320 transactions valuing over $110,000 were deposited into a single wallet address before Twitter was able to remove the messages. Other wallet addresses received deposits in the thousands of dollars before Twitter removed those posts.

Concepts from the class you intend to apply (need one from each level of the class– individual, group and system):
Individual: Behavioral Theories of Leadership
Twitter leaders have seen hackers attacking other companies, so they know how to deal with such attacks and react to the aftermath.
Group: Informal Group
The Twitter cyber-attack demonstrated that Twitter works in an informal group setting. Informal groups accomplish tasks (restore people’s accounts) quickly and highly adaptive (remove all malware and spam) to move forward from a cyberattack. For years, Twitter has had numerous hacking attacks, and every time, it managed to react quickly. They strategically create a cross-functional team; marketing announces the incident and how the team is taking action. Software engineers create unpenetrated software, and developers implement and manage to oversee and implement deadlines.
System: System complexity
System complexity refers to how the different parts of the organization are working together to influence decision-making. Twitter is a public company that has so many departments and they work together so well that they came up with a solution so quickly to avoid more victims being scammed.