Elon Musk's Twitter Journey Starts With Blue-Tick Cybersecurity Nightmare As Phishing Emails Attempt To Steal User Passwords

As Twitter Inc.'s new CEO, Elon Musk, goes after the 'blue badge' verification process, cybercriminals have reportedly become active to leverage the chaos. 

What Happened: Hours after Musk became the new CEO of Twitter, cyber threat elements started sending phishing emails targeted to steal users' passwords. 

The phishing emails aim to trick Twitter users into entering their usernames and passwords on a website belonging to the attacker that is set up to look like a Twitter help form, reported TechCrunch.

See Also: Twitter Could Reportedly Lose Up To 25% Or More Workforce After Musk's Takeover

The email is sent from Alphabet Inc.'s GOOG GOOGL Gmail account, and it contains links to a Google Doc and a Google Site, which allow users to host web content, stated the report.

The page contains an embedded frame from another site, hosted on a Beget, a Russian web host, which asks users for their Twitter handle, password, and phone number — enough to compromise accounts without two-factor authentication. 

Google took down the site, citing violations of its program policies. Beget also pulled down the offending domain, reported TechCrunch.

Why It's Important: The cybersecurity threat appears crude, considering it emerged quickly to take advantage of the recent chaos following Musk's tweet about "revamping" the verification process. 

Twitter might soon ask users to pay a monthly premium of $20 for features like verification. Those who don't pay will reportedly lose the coveted blue check mark. 

Photo: Courtesy of JD Lasica via Wikimedia Commons

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