Science, Technology, and Social Media

Josh Hawley Urges Twitter To Call In FBI To Help Stop Massive Cyberattack

Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri urged Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to call in the Department of Justice and the FBI to take “any necessary measures” to secure the social media site after some of its most prominent users were compromised by suspected bitcoin scammers Wednesday afternoon.

The twitter accounts of former President Barack Obama, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg were among the many accounts compromised by the hackers, who posted messages on the accounts asking users to send money to a bitcoin address.

“I am giving back to the community,” read a now-deleted tweet posted to Biden’s account. “All Bitcoin sent to the address below will be sent back doubled!”

The bitcoin address linked in the tweets has racked up at least $115,000 since the start of the attack, according to NBC News, citing a public register of bitcoin transactions.

“I am concerned that this event may represent not merely a coordinated set of separate hacking incidents but rather a successful attack on the security of Twitter itself,” Hawley wrote in the letter. “As you know, millions of your users rely on your service not just to tweet publicly but also to communicate privately through your direct message service.”

“A successful attack on your system’s servers represents a threat to all of your users’ privacy and data security,” the senator added.

https://twitter.com/TwitterSupport/status/1283518038445223936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer
Twitter began blocking any user with a blue verification check from posting on the platform shortly after 6:00 p.m eastern Wednesday amid the attack.

Twitter shares dropped over 3% in after-hours trading Wednesday evening.

Tweet posted to Joe Biden’s account Wednesday afternoon. Bitcoin address redacted. (Twitter / Screenshot)

In addition to urging Dorsey to contact the DoJ and FBI to assist in securing the Twitter, Hawley asked him to clarify whether President Donald Trump’s Twitter account was threatened at all during the attack.

Hawley also asked how many users may have been the victim of data theft as a consequence of Wednesday’s attack.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org

Andrew Kerr

Share
Published by
Andrew Kerr

Recent Posts

The Benefits of Learning Platforms in a Classroom Environment

The integration of learning platforms in the traditional classroom environment has had a huge impact…

2 days ago

Hegseth Launches Major Anti-Drone Task Force Against Growing Airspace Threat

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed the Army Thursday to create a new task force designed…

2 days ago

Trump Admin Asks Congress To Cancel $5 Billion In Foreign Aid Using Hotly-Contested Maneuver

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced the cancellation of nearly $5 billion in…

2 days ago

NIH Schemes To Keep Risky Viral Research Alive Despite Trump Crackdown

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) plans to continue creating novel pandemic viruses in apparent…

2 days ago

FTC Puts Google On Notice For ‘Partisan’ Filtering Against Republicans

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Andrew Ferguson is pressing Google over allegations that its Gmail…

2 days ago

Transgenderism Is The Number One Threat To Gen Z, Not Guns

How many times are we going to turn a blind eye to America’s youth being…

2 days ago