Some Twitter services are down tonight, with the popular social media platform’s support team providing the latest news regarding July 15’s “security incident”.
According to the official Twitter account, certain core features have been switched off due to an earlier security breach.
This reportedly saw high-profile Twitter accounts hacked, with Business Insider reporting it was part of a cryptocurrency scam.
“This included the accounts of billionaires Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Mike Bloomberg, and Warren Buffett, as well as numerous tech startups and cryptocurrency-related sites,” the report from Business Insider adds.
“The Twitter accounts of former President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden were also compromised.”
For now, it appears that some Twitter accounts will be unable to Tweet or reset passwords until tonight’s incident has been investigated.
The latest news from Twitter confirms the following: “We are aware of a security incident impacting accounts on Twitter. We are investigating and taking steps to fix it. We will update everyone shortly.
“You may be unable to Tweet or reset your password while we review and address this incident.
“We’re continuing to limit the ability to Tweet, reset your password, and some other account functionalities while we look into this. Thanks for your patience.”
According to the latest reports, affected Twitter accounts posted messages asking followers to send $1,000 in Bitcoin to an address.
This came with the promise of doubling the contributions in return for doing so.
For now, it’s unclear how long Twitter features will be down tonight but it’s clear the social media will continue to offer updates in the coming hours.
Dmitri Alperovitch, co-founder of cybersecurity company CrowdStrike, said the Twitter cyber-scam was unprecedented.
He said: “This appears to be the worst hack of a major social media platform yet.”
Oren Falkowitz, former CEO of Area 1 Security, added that the company needs to improve its security.
Mr Falkowitz said: “It’s clear the company is not doing enough to protect itself.
“We are lucky that given the power of sending out tweets from the accounts of many famous people, the only thing that the hackers have done is scammed about $110,000 in bitcoins from about 300 people.”