Security researchers link Amitabh Bachchans Twitter account hack to malicious direct messages

Connecting the hacking of Twitter handles to malicious links, security researchers have advised Twitterati to be careful while clicking on URLs sent via Direct Messages (DMs) on the platform. The warning comes a day after the Twitter accounts of celebrities Amitabh Bachchan and Adnan Sami were compromised. A group called “Ayyildiz Tim Turkish Cyber Army” has already claimed responsibility for attacking both the high-profile accounts.

“Their (hackers) modus operandi looks like they sending DM (Twitter Direct Message) to the victims Twitter account and if the victim opens the DM (direct message) he/she is directed to a phishing page which looks like a genuine page,” a report in Business Standard (via IANS) quoted Sanjay Katkar, Joint Managing Director and Chief Technology Officer, Quick Heal Technologies, as saying.

“If the user fills the login credentials on this page his login information is gone to the hackers who later use it to login and change the original password and take control of the account,” the executive added. He noted that users with large number of followers should switch on the two-factor authentication for their account. “All the social media services 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,” Katkar pointed out.

Amitabh Bachchan and Adnan Sami are among the list of other celebrities whose accounts have been compromised by the above mentioned group. Divya Dutta and Daler Mehndi were also the victims of these group. The striking difference between the two episodes is the change of profile pictures. In the latest incidents, the hackers swapped the display images of Bachchan and Sami with a photo of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. The accounts of Adnan Sami and Amitabh Bachchan have now been restored.

According to French security researcher Elliot Alderson, a Twitter user with the name Kerem Sah Noyan and uses the handle @NoyanAyt2002 is likely the person behind the hack. "Few hours ago, the account of @SrBachchan with his 37.4M followers has been hacked. There is a high probability that the hacker is @NoyanAyt2002,” Alderson said in a tweet. “Guess who is the last person followed by @SrBachchan? Obviously @NoyanAyt2002," he added.

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