Twitter Hack Targeted 130 Accounts, Company Says

Social media was supposed to be the great equalizer, but a new study suggests that most elected officials in Canada, the United States and elsewhere are struggling to connect with people on Twitter. Matt Rourke/THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/

The biggest known cyber breach of social media giant Twitter targeted a total of approximately 130 accounts, with the attackers gaining control of and sending tweets from a small subset of the total, the company said on July 16.

The attacks started in the afternoon on July 15 when Twitter accounts associated with major players in the cryptocurrency industry sent messages featuring a common bitcoin scam. As users began to raise alarm, the attacker moved on to some of the biggest and influential accounts on Twitter, including former president Barack Obama, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, and rapper-turned-businessman Kanye West.