BOMBAY TIMES (June 13, 2019)

With the Twitter accounts of Amitabh Bachchan and Adnan Sami getting hacked, security researchers have warned that users should think twice before clicking on the links received in the Twitter Direct Message (DMs).

While Bachchan’s Twitter account was hacked late on Monday, the hackers took control of Sami’s Twitter account on Tuesday. A group that goes by the name Ayyildiz Tim Turkish Cyber Army claimed responsibility for hacking both the high-profile accounts.

“Their modus operandi looks like they send DMs to the victim’s Twitter account and if the victim opens the DM, he/she is directed to a phishing page which looks like a genuine page,” said Sanjay Katkar, Chief Technology Officer at a cyber security technology company.

“If the user fills the login credentials on this page, his/her login information is transferred to the hackers who later use it to login and change the original password and take control of the account,” he said, adding that there are also other ways a Twitter account can get compromised.

A French security researcher, who uses the pseudonym Elliot Alderson, pointed to a user who goes by the name Kerem Sah Noyan on Twitter and uses the handle @NoyanAyt2002 as the person behind the hack. “Few hours ago, the account of @Sr-Bachchan with his 37.4M followers has been hacked. There is a high probability that the hacker is @NoyanAyt2002,” Alderson tweeted. “Guess who is the last person followed by @SrBachchan? Obviously @NoyanAyt2002,” he added. “To sum up: The hacker of @SrBachchan’s account is @NoyanAyt2002. He is part of team called Ayyildiz Tim Turkish Cyber Army,” Alderson added. “All the social media services (Twitter/ Instagram/ Facebook etc,) have the security and privacy feature of two factor authentication. This will make it difficult for hackers to take control of your social media account,” advised Katkar.