Microblogging site Twitter has revealed that the hackers have been able to access account details for up to eight users, but assured that none of them are verified accounts.
The unidentified attackers targetted 130 accounts and were able to reset passwords to gain control of 45 of those accounts and tweet from them, according to the company statement.
On Wednesday hackers had breached Twitter’s internal networks to hijack the accounts of some of the top personalities on the site, including U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden, reality TV personality Kim Kardashian, Ex-President Barack Obama and Tesla founder Elon Musk, and used them to lobby for digital currency.
Publicly accessible blockchain records indicate that the apparent scammers gained cryptocurrencies worth more than $100,000.
Through the attack, Twitter said hackers were able to access personal information including email addresses and phone numbers of the 130 targeted users but were unable to access previous passwords for the account.
Twitter said that “In cases where an account was taken over by the attacker, they may have been able to view additional information”, but did not specify the type of information accessed.
Hackers may also have tried to sell some of the accounts’ usernames, it said.
Twitter had admitted earlier that a small number of their employees were manipulated by the attackers in order to gain access to the internal support tools used in the hack.
The company is communicating with the owners of the account who were affected by the hacking. As the investigation is ongoing, the social media platform said that it is holding back some of the details of the attack.
The investigation into hacking is led by the San Fransisco division of the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation). Many lawmakers in Washington are also calling for an account of how the incident happened.
