There was a major online attack on the World’s most prominent personalities in the sectors of politics, entertainment, and tech, just three days ago. Twitter accounts belonging to former US President Barack Obama, Joseph Biden, Kanye West, Bill Gates and Elon Musk including those of giant corporations such as Apple, Uber, Coinbase, Binance, Gemini in the afternoon of Wednesday, July 15, 2020, tweeted similar Bitcoin scams to millions of their followers.
“I’m feeling generous because of Covid-19, I’ll double any BTC payment sent to my BTC address for the next hour. Good luck, and stay safe out there,” read a tweet from Musk’s account.
“We have partnered with CryptoForHealth and are giving back 5000 BTC,” read another one from Gemini and Binance accounts. Twitter accounts belonging to Apple and Uber were also sending out the same cryptocurrency scam links and was the first tweet made on Apple’s account ever since it was created.
While a different version of the scams was tweeted in the accounts belonging to President Barrack Obama, Jeff Bezos, Joe Biden, and Kanye West.
“I am giving back to the society due to COVID-19, all Bitcoin sent to the address below will be sent doubled,” read the now-deleted cryptocurrency scam tweets.
While assuring the users that they will investigate, and correct the security breaches on the platform, Twitter said at least one hundred and thirty accounts were affected in the unprecedented attack. Two-factor authentication is not the reason why these accounts were hacked, but I thought this would be the right time to remind you to activate it so as to prevent the nonstop breaches and hacks that continue to pose a major risk to digital security. It is not however a guarantee that your accounts will be 100% safe.
With 2-step verification, you add an extra layer of security to your account in case your password is stolen. When 2FA is enabled, you’ll have to enter a password and an additional code sent to your phone, email, or generated by an authenticator app in order to be able to log into your accounts. Authenticator apps such as the ones for Google and Microsoft are considered more secure than texting, in addition, they offer flexibility when you are in a place without cellular service or have lost your mobile sim cards.
Turning on 2-Step Verification on Google Account.
- Open your Google Account.
- In the navigation panel, select Security.
- Under “Signing in to Google,” select 2-Step Verification and Get Started.
- By following the on-screen steps, you should be able to set that with a lot of ease.
Turning on 2-Step Verification on Instagram.
- Go to your profile then tap Settings.
- Tap Security and then scroll down and tap Two-Factor Authentication.
- Tap next to Authentication App, then tap Set Up Manually. If you don’t see the toggle switch, tap Get Started.
- Tap Copy Key below the Instagram key and paste it into your authentication app (example: Duo Mobile or Google Authenticator).
- Note: You should copy the key code to your clipboard, take a screenshot, or save it in some other way since you won’t be able to access the code again once you’ve finished setting up.
- After your Instagram account is linked to your authentication app, copy the 6-digit code your authentication app creates.
- Go back to the Instagram app, tap Next, and paste the 6-digit code to complete the process on that device.
Turning on 2-Step Verification on Facebook
- Go to your Security and Login Settings.
- Scroll down to Use two-factor authentication and click Edit.
- Choose the security method you want to add and follow the on-screen instructions.
When you set up two-factor authentication on Facebook, you’ll be asked to choose one of two security methods:
- Login codes from a third-party authentication app.
- Text message (SMS) codes from your mobile phone.
You’ll need to have at least one of these set up in order to use two-factor authentication. Once you have added either text message (SMS) codes or a third party authentication app on your account, you are set to go.
Turning on 2-Step Verification on Twitter
- In the side menu, click More, then click Settings and Privacy.
- Click on your Account settings and click Security.
- Tap Two-factor authentication.
- There are three methods to choose from: Text message, Authentication app, or Security key.
To sign up via text message:
- Click the checkbox next to Text message.
- Read the overview instructions, then click Next.
- Enter your password, then click Verify.
- Enter the confirmation code sent you via text message. Type in the code, you’ll see a confirmation screen with a backup code.
- Click Got it when you’re finished with the screen.
When you log in to your account on twitter.com, Twitter for iOS, Twitter for Android, or mobile.twitter.com, a six-digit code will be text messaged to your phone to use during login.
To sign up via authentication app:
- Click the checkbox next to the Authentication app.
- Read the overview instructions, then click Start.
- If prompted, enter your password and click Verify.
- You’ll be prompted to link your authentication app to your Twitter account by scanning a QR code. (If you don’t already have an app installed on your device, you’ll need to download one. You can use any time-based one-time password (TOTP) authentication app like Google Authenticator, Authy, Duo Mobile, 1Password, etc.)
- After you scan the QR code, click Next.
- Enter the code generated by your authentication app, then click Verify.
- You’ll see a confirmation screen. Click Got it to finish the setup.
Now, through your authentication app, you can view and use codes to log in to your Twitter account.
See Also: Google introduces Cloud Confidential Computing with VMs to encrypt data in-use
