Twitter hackers slid into more DMs than previously known

It wasn't just eight accounts.
 By 
Jack Morse
 on 
Twitter hackers slid into more DMs than previously known
Keeper of secrets. Credit: bob al-greene / mashable

Whoever hacked Twitter walked away with a lot more than just bitcoin.

The San Francisco-based social media giant has continued to release additional details of the July 15 hack that saw verified accounts compromised and used to push a classic cryptocurrency scam. Today, Twitter announced that more accounts had their direct messages accessed than was previously known.

"We believe that for up to 36 of the 130 targeted accounts, the attackers accessed the DM inbox, including 1 elected official in the Netherlands," read the Wednesday statement. "To date, we have no indication that any other former or current elected official had their DMs accessed."

Notably, on July 17, Twitter confirmed that for eight of the compromised accounts, hackers used the "Your Twitter Data" tool to downloaded account information — information, it should be emphasized, that includes direct messages.

That hackers also accessed the DMs of an additional 28 accounts means the scale and size of the attack only continues to grow in our understanding.

SEE ALSO: How the Twitter hack highlights the dangers of Slack

Still, at least for now, Twitter insists that neither the direct messages of Barack Obama nor Joe Biden — both of whom had their accounts hacked — appear to have been accessed by the hackers. So at least there's that.

Related Video: It's surprisingly easy to be more secure online

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Jack Morse

Professionally paranoid. Covering privacy, security, and all things cryptocurrency and blockchain from San Francisco.

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