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Twitter and the big bitcoin scam: what happened next

Everything you need to know about the July 15th Twitter hack

Contributors: Verge Staff

On July 15th, multiple verified Twitter accounts associated with public figures and companies were hijacked and tweeted out a bitcoin scam. Several accounts impacted by the breach include Apple, President Barack Obama, former Vice President Joe Biden, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, rapper Kanye West, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, and Uber.

The takeovers lasted more than two hours, and Twitter took extreme measures to prevent other verified accounts from being compromised, such as disabling the ability for some users to send new tweets and locking some users out of their accounts.

Twitter is continuing to look into the incident, and the FBI has launched its own investigation, so there’s sure to be more news about the unprecedented attack on the social media platform. Follow along with all of the latest updates in our StoryStream below.

20 Total Updates Since
Jul 15, 2020, 6:26pm EDT

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September 3, 2020
You can now download your Twitter data again and see what hackers could’ve nabbed

By Sean Hollister@StarFire2258

Twitter had shut off ‘Your Twitter Data’ as a precaution
September 2, 2020
Twitter hack conspirators may include a 16-year-old from Massachusetts

By Nick Statt@nickstatt

The teen joins 17-year-old Graham Clark, the supposed mastermind, as the two youngest conspirators

6 comments / new
August 5, 2020
Alleged Twitter teen hacker’s hearing got zoombombed big time

By Sean Hollister@StarFire2258

You ruined it for everyone
August 3, 2020
Go read this investigation into the troubled past of alleged Twitter hacker

By Jon Porter@JonPorty

From Minecraft scams to the biggest hack in Twitter’s history

10 comments / new
July 31, 2020
Three people have been charged for Twitter’s huge hack, and a Florida teen is in jail

By Sean Hollister@StarFire2258

Update: The Tampa teen allegedly pretended to work for Twitter’s IT department

60 comments / new
July 30, 2020
Twitter says a spear phishing attack led to the huge bitcoin scam

By Jay Peters@jaypeters

‘This attack relied on a significant and concerted attempt to mislead certain employees’

5 comments / new
July 27, 2020
Years before big hack, Twitter contractors reportedly spied on celebs, including Beyoncé

By Jay Peters@jaypeters

Some of those contractors were reportedly employed by Cognizant

6 comments / new
July 22, 2020
Twitter says hackers accessed the DMs of one elected official in last week’s attack

By Jay Peters@jaypeters

Attackers may have accessed the DMs of up to 36 accounts, including a Netherlands-based official

4 comments / new
July 20, 2020
Coinbase says it halted more than $280,000 in bitcoin transactions during Twitter hack

By Makena Kelly@kellymakena

The company blacklisted the bitcoin address

12 comments / new
July 18, 2020
Read Twitter’s update on the huge hack — 8 accounts may have had private messages stolen

By Sean Hollister@StarFire2258

But it sounds like the attackers didn’t get Biden’s data cache

36 comments / new
July 17, 2020
Go read The New York Times’ incredible account of how the Twitter attack may have happened

By Nick Statt@nickstatt

We’re starting to get an idea of how the legendary hack went down

15 comments / new
July 17, 2020
Everything we know about this week’s big Twitter hack so far

By Casey Newton@CaseyNewton

Who might have done it, and how, and what else they might have planned. Plus: Q&A with Facebook’s chief diversity officer
July 16, 2020
Trump’s Twitter account has extra protections, which could be why it didn’t get hacked

By Jay Peters@jaypeters

A lot of high-profile accounts were hit yesterday, but not Trump’s

14 comments / new
July 16, 2020
Twitter’s massive attack: What we know after Apple, Biden, Obama, Musk, and others tweeted a bitcoin scam

By Nick Statt@nickstatt

Update: Wednesday’s Twitter attack is now being investigated by numerous law enforcement agencies

74 comments / new
July 16, 2020
The FBI opens investigation into Twitter attack over national security concerns

By Nick Statt@nickstatt

Numerous investigations are now probing Twitter’s worst-ever security incident

2 comments / new
July 16, 2020
Twitter says passwords were spared in yesterday’s attack, but it’s still working to restore locked accounts

By Jay Peters@jaypeters

Twitter wants to restore access "ASAP"
July 16, 2020
Lawmakers demand more details on Twitter’s massive hack

By Makena Kelly@kellymakena

Twitter is investigating the hack

12 comments / new
July 15, 2020
Twitter reveals that its own employee tools contributed to unprecedented hack

By Nick Statt@nickstatt

Twitter says hackers compromised high-profile accounts thanks to access to internal tools

19 comments / new
July 15, 2020
The massive Twitter hack could be a global security crisis

By Casey Newton@CaseyNewton

Bitcoin scammers won’t be the last people to take over verified accounts — and we should be very, very worried about who else will
July 15, 2020
Twitter shut off the ability for many people to tweet after massive hack

By Chaim Gartenberg@cgartenberg

Update: "Most accounts should be able to Tweet again"

12 comments / new

Twitter and the big bitcoin scam: what happened next

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