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

Top Rated Comments

Apple_Robert Avatar
42 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
42 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
42 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
42 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
42 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
42 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)

Popular Stories

Multi Display CarPlay 1

All-New Apple CarPlay Launching Later This Year With These 5 New Features

Friday September 29, 2023 11:29 am PDT by
At WWDC 2022 last year, Apple previewed the next generation of CarPlay, promising deeper integration with vehicle functions like A/C and FM radio, support for multiple displays across the dashboard, personalization options, and more. Apple said the first vehicles with support for the next-generation CarPlay experience would be announced in late 2023, but it has still not shared any additional...
iPhone 15 Pro lineup

Apple to Address iPhone 15 Pro Overheating Issue With iOS 17 Update

Saturday September 30, 2023 9:28 am PDT by
Apple plans to release an iOS 17 update to address a bug that may contribute to the reported iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max overheating issue, according to a statement the company shared today with MacRumors and Forbes reporter David Phelan. Apple also says some recent updates to third-party apps have overloaded the system and contributed to the overheating issue. The report notes that...
iphone se 4 modified flag edges

iPhone SE 4 Details: Action Button, USB-C Port, Face ID, and More

Wednesday September 27, 2023 1:34 pm PDT by
Significant changes are expected to arrive with Apple's fourth-generation iPhone SE, in terms of both design and hardware, MacRumors has learned. The iPhone SE 4, known internally under the codename Ghost, is expected to receive a new design derived almost entirely from the base model iPhone 14. According to our sources, the iPhone SE 4 will use a modified version of the iPhone 14 chassis...
BMW Logo iPhone 15 Pro

Warning: BMW Wireless Charging May Break iPhone 15's Apple Pay Chip

Sunday October 1, 2023 6:14 am PDT by
If you have an iPhone 15 and drive a BMW, it might be best to avoid charging the device with the vehicle's wireless charging pad for now. Over the past week, some BMW owners have complained that their iPhone 15's NFC chip no longer works after charging the device with their vehicle's wireless charging pad, according to comments shared on the MacRumors Forums and X, formerly known as Twitter. ...
iPhone 16 Side Feature

iPhone 16 and 16 Pro: Preliminary Weights and Dimensions

Friday September 29, 2023 12:34 pm PDT by
MacRumors has obtained preliminary information on the weights and dimensions planned for the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max. The information corroborates previous reports suggesting that the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max will feature larger displays. iPhone 16 and 16 Plus Current information suggests that the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus will maintain the same...
CarPlay SharePlay

CarPlay Not Working for Some iPhone 15 Users, Possibly Because of USB-C Cables

Friday September 29, 2023 2:27 pm PDT by
CarPlay is not working as expected for some iPhone 15 users, an issue that is likely linked to the transition to USB-C. There are multiple complaints from MacRumors readers and Reddit users who are unable to get CarPlay to work with their new devices. Cable type and available port options are a common theme in the CarPlay reports, with many of the functionality problems linked to USB-A to...
iPhone 15 USB C Port Keynote

Some USB-C Power Banks Fail to Work With iPhone 15

Thursday September 28, 2023 2:06 pm PDT by
Apple added a USB-C port to the iPhone 15 lineup this year, allowing it to work with USB-C cables, USB-C power banks, and more. It turns out that some USB-C battery packs are not working properly with Apple's iPhone 15, resulting in charging issues. As highlighted on Reddit and the MacRumors forums, not all existing USB-C power banks can be used with the iPhone 15 models, perhaps due to the...