Twitter releases statement after CEO’s account was hacked

Jack Dorsey, the co-founder and chief executive of Twitter had his own account on the service briefly taken over by hackers.

The hack was carried out by a group said to be called the Chuckling Squad, according to the BBC. However, Twitter’s own systems were not compromised during the attack.

According to Twitter, the attackers had gained access through the use of a mobile number.

“We’re aware that @jack was compromised and investigating what happened,” Twitter says in a statement.

“The phone number associated with the account was compromised due to a security oversight by the mobile provider.” 

“This allowed an unauthorised person to compose and send tweets via text message from the phone number. That issue is now resolved.”

“The account is now secure, and there is no indication that Twitter’s systems have been compromised,” the statement also says.

Within an hour, Twitter removed the offending tweets and suspended accounts associated with the hackers.

BBC explains the hackers used a technique known as “simswapping” (or “simjacking”) where an existing number is transferred to a new Sim card, usually after attackers trick or bribe customer support staff at a mobile provider. Hence, the attackers were able to post messages via Twitter’s CEO account.

They used the account to post racist and anti-Semitic comments from Dorsey’s handle, @jack. One post also suggested there was a bomb at the social media company’s headquarters.

Twitter removed the offending posts and also suspended accounts associated with the hackers.

A chat channel on Discord, a separate website, was apparently set up by the group to discuss and joke about the attack – but was quickly shut down.