Twitter Bitcoin Scam Hack (2020): A Social Science Perspective

Introduction

The 2020 Twitter Bitcoin Scam Hack was a major cybersecurity incident, in which hackers exploited Twitter on its own and hacked its internal systems (Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI], 2020), via social media profiles hosted by Elon Musk and Barack Obama, to encourage a cryptocurrency scam. While there was technological risk of the hacker, the majority of the attack happened when social scientists were not paying attention (they were rather reactive).

Analysis (Social Science Integration)

From a psychological perspective, the attack was based on social engineering tactics (Hadnagy, 2018) and employed employee manipulation by presenting themselves as legitimate internal IT staff. Socially, the experience also suggests that organizational culture may be fertile ground for possible vulnerability. The response by the public to such a situation also showed how credible people (and social influence) influence behavior (Barton, 2017). From an anthropological point of view too, the attack exposed how trust-based cultural norms are formed and used via digital platform.

Solutions

Organizations need to address both technical and social problems. E.g. multi-factor authentication and restrictions on access can help to mitigate risks (Twitter, Inc., 2020). Social engineering awareness training programs that regularly enable employees to recognize a social engineering strategy can help with this. A culture where employees feel comfortable asking employees if there’s some suspicious request will also reduce the chance of success with attempts to attack. These types of programs and interventions can be made easier by the organization leaders and incorporate them normally into the work routines.

Reflection

It’s a human problem, the Twitter hack shows, however while we still think of cybersecurity as a technical one, rather than only a technical one. Cybersecurity research from social sciences also adds to our knowledge of how attackers can succeed in digital and social attacks so that we can know how to prevent them. This will help the organization to remain stronger in defense because it will be a good idea to understand the behavioral aspects of cyber security.

Conclusion

The Twitter hack reminds the world that human factors matter in cybersecurity. By incorporating technology protections and research approaches from social science into a secure infrastructure, organizations can build more robust and technologically stable systems of cybersecurity.

References

Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2020). Twitter hack investigation report.

Hadnagy, C. (2018). Social engineering: The science of human hacking. Wiley.

Twitter, Inc. (2020). An update on our security incident.