Justin Sun, founder of cryptocurrency Tron, revealed in an interview he will give $1 million to anyone who can identify the names behind the persons who hacked Twitter earlier Wednesday, July 15. Sun’s and Tron’s Twitter accounts were also compromised during the incident.
According to Cointelegraph, Sun said they were working closely with the social networking platform to resolve the issue. He also affirmed they were very vigilant in handling their accounts. Finally, Sun said the attack highlighted the need for decentralization and adoption of trustless software and services.
Sun’s Twitter account appeared to not have said a statement regarding the hack. However, the Twitter account of Bittorrent, his other company, requested followers to remain vigilant while the hack was ongoing.
The security breach at Twitter was the largest at the moment as hackers were able to take control of dozens of accounts, not only crypto companies, but also verified accounts of tech figures like Elon Musk and politicians like Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
All the compromised accounts were tweeting about a scam giveaway. It appears the scammers managed to rake in $118,567 in today’s Bitcoin prices.
Early investigation inside Twitter revealed the hack was a coordinated social engineering attack; hackers were able to successfully target Twitter employees with access to internal systems and tools.
This incident is corroborated by Vice Motherboard, whose sources revealed the hackers paid a Twitter insider to gain access to the company’s internal tool.
“We used a rep that literally done all the work for us,” the source told the publication. Screenshots of the internal tool were being deleted immediately by Twitter when someone posted them. Twitter claimed the image violates their TOS.
Twitter said they immediately locked down the affected account and limited the functionality of all verified accounts the moment they became aware of the incident. The social media platform added it took significant steps to limit access to its internal systems.
Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri wrote a letter to Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey requesting for more information on the extent of the breach and whether or not President Donald Trump’s account was compromised. In a separate tweet, Dorsey said they will release more information once they find out more details on how the attack happened.
https://www.ibtimes.com/trons-justin-sun-offers-1-million-bounty-twitter-hackers-3012178 ....
Incidentally, offering bounties in exchange for information on criminal activities is the same policy the SEC (Securities Exchange Commission) uses.
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SEC Issues $3.8 Million Whistleblower AwardFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2020-155
Washington D.C., July 14, 2020 —
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced a $3.8 million award to a whistleblower who provided significant information that helped the SEC disrupt an ongoing fraudulent scheme. The resulting enforcement action returned millions of dollars to harmed investors.
“Today’s award underscores the paramount role the SEC’s whistleblower program plays in safeguarding the Main Street investor. Since the beginning of the program nearly ten years ago, the SEC has ordered more than $2.5 billion in financial remedies based on whistleblower information, including more than $1.4 billion in disgorgement and prejudgment interest, of which almost $750 million has been returned or is scheduled to be returned to harmed investors,” said Jane Norberg, Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower.
The SEC has awarded approximately $505 million to 87 individuals since issuing its first award in 2012. This includes awards to 20 individuals in the last 10 months, totaling almost $119 million. All payments are made out of an investor protection fund established by Congress that is financed entirely through monetary sanctions paid to the SEC by securities law violators. No money has been taken or withheld from harmed investors to pay whistleblower awards. Whistleblowers may be eligible for an award when they voluntarily provide the SEC with original, timely, and credible information that leads to a successful enforcement action. Whistleblower awards can range from 10 percent to 30 percent of the money collected when the monetary sanctions exceed $1 million.
As set forth in the Dodd-Frank Act, the SEC protects the confidentiality of whistleblowers and does not disclose information that could reveal a whistleblower’s identity.
For more information about the whistleblower program and how to report a tip, visit SEC.gov/whistleblower.
https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2020-155 The SEC claims $750 million dollars was returned to harmed investors by their whistleblower bounty program since 2012.
$750 million has been returned or is scheduled to be returned to harmed investors,” said Jane Norberg, Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower.
Here's to hoping Justin Sun's bounty program is as successful.
