Twitter Says Private Messages Of 36 People, Including Some Verified Accounts, Were Accessed In Bitcoin Hack

In the massive attack on Twitter Inc’s TWTR platform last week, direct messages of at least 36 people were compromised, the company admitted on social media Wednesday.

What Happened: "We believe that for up to 36 of the 130 targeted accounts, the attackers accessed the DM inbox, including 1 elected official in the Netherlands," the San Francisco-based company said. 

"To date, we have no indication that any other former or current elected official had their DMs accessed," it added.

TechCrunch reported that the Netherlands official is Geert Wilders, a right-wing politician known for his anti-Muslim views.

The social media company didn't say whether other verified accounts also had their private conversations accessed. 

Tesla Inc’s TSLA CEO Elon Musk, Microsoft Corporation MSFT co-founder Bill Gates, and the former President of the United States Barack Obama were some of the high-profile people whose accounts were used to send out messages promoting a cryptocurrency scam to millions of their followers.

Why It Matters: Twitter had previously said it could only confirm that about eight unverified accounts had their DMs downloaded.

The latest update suggests the social media company isn't yet sure whether private messages of Musk, Gates, or other high-profile users, who aren't elected officials, were also downloaded. 

Price Action: Twitter shares closed 1.5% higher at $35.81 on Wednesday, and added another 0.4% in the after-hours session.