Unit 4: Actions Taken By Authorities and Status
Preventing the spread of more scamming links
Twitter locked all affected accounts and removed tweets related to frauds and internal tools.
Limiting Access and Ensuring safety
Some internal tools and systems were locked to ensure account security while they were investigating. For example, features like accessing your twitter data and some processes have been shut down.
Many employees were revoked access to twitter's systems. They also had to undergo a video call with their supervisor to change their passwords
Actions taken by cryptocurrency companies
Cryptocurrency companies were told to block the bitcoin addresses the hackers used.
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They reviewed their settings and changed passwords.
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Conducted better brand monitoring across platforms.
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Created a matrix document of social media account users and access controls for better tracking and auditing.
Spreading of awareness by influential figures
To help curb the attack by the hackers, influential figures whose Twitter accounts were taken over helped to raise awareness. In hopes of reducing the extent of the attack, they let their followers know that their account had been take over and that they should take the necessary steps to report the compromised tweet and not fall for the hacker's scam.
The arrest of the Twitter hackers
On 21 July 2020, Police in Spain arrested a British man named Joseph O'Connor in the Spanish coastal resort city of Estepona, after US authorities charged him with hacking into more than 130 Twitter accounts. A Florida teenager, 17-year-old Graham Ivan Clark, was arrested last August charged with playing a central role in Twitter hacking. He pleaded guilty in March and was sentenced to 3 years in prison. These 2 men are the main culprits behind the 2020 Twitter hack and are now currently both in prison.