Top Accounts Including Kim Kardashian and Joe Biden Get Hacked on Twitter

Some of the biggest users on Twitter found their accounts hacked this week, including presidential hopeful Joe Biden and reality TV star Kim Kardashian.

Twitter said the hackers access the platform’s internal system to hijack the accounts and used them to solicit digital currency.

The social media company said employees with access to its internal systems had been successfully targeted by hackers who “used this access to take control of many highly-visible (including verified) accounts and Tweet on their behalf.”

“We’re looking into what other malicious activity they may have conducted or information they may have accessed and will share more here as we have it,” the company said.

Former U.S. President Barack Obama, billionaire Elon Musk, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett were also targeted in the attacks. The affected accounts had tens of millions of users.

Twitter was able to temporarily prevent some verified accounts from publishing messages for hours and said it would restore access only when it was certain it could do so securely.

According to blockchain public records, the scammers were able to receive over $100,000 worth of cryptocurrency.

Chief Executive Jack Dorsey tweeted, “Tough day for us at Twitter. We all feel terrible this happened.”

“It’s clear the company is not doing enough to protect itself,” said Oren Falkowitz, former CEO of Area 1 Security about Twitter.

Disclaimer: We have no position in Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) and have not been compensated for this article.