The X accounts (ex Twitter) of several sportsmen, Florent Manaudou, Alexandre Lacazatte and Neymar’s website, have been hacked. Hackers have taken control of many other profiles to promote scams.
The social network X (formerly Twitter) suffered a wave of hacking on September 18. Hackers took control of several celebrity accounts.
Numerama was able to identify the accounts of Olympic swimmer Florent Manaudou, OL footballer Alexandre Lacazatte, Neymar’s personal website. Other personalities such as film director Oliver Stone, the Lithuanian ambassador to Sweden and an agency of the European Union were also hacked.
Florent Manaudou has already been able to delete the scams published on his account.
The X accounts of several celebrities have been hacked. // Source: Numerama
Hacks to promote cryptocurrency
Hackers took over the profiles to spread cryptocurrency scams. The same message was posted on all hacked accounts. The criminals are promoting Solona, a cryptocurrency. An e-wallet number was also shared.
Hacks to promote a scam are common. Hackers take over the account of a celebrity with many followers to reach a large audience. However, the scale of the hacks on September 18 suggests that cybercriminals took advantage of a vulnerability in X accounts.
How to enable two-factor authentication on X
To add an extra layer of security – and prevent yourself from getting hacked – you can enable two-factor authentication on X.
- Click on your profile picture at the top left.
- Click on “Settings and privacy”
- Then on “Security and account access”, then on “Security”
- And finally head over to Two-Factor Authentication.
You can then choose your method to add a second authentication for your account.
