The unprecedented hacking of celebrity Twitter accounts this month was caused by human error and a spear-phishing attack on Twitter employees, the company has confirmed.

Spear-phishing is a targeted attack designed to trick people into handing out information such as passwords.

Twitter said its staff were targeted through their phones.

The successful attempt let attackers tweet from celebrity accounts and access their private direct messages.

The accounts of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden and reality star Kim Kardashian West were compromised, and shared a Bitcoin scam.

It reportedly netted the scammers more than $100,000 (£80,000).

The attack has raised concerns about the level of access that Twitter employees, and subsequently the hackers, have to user accounts.

Twitter acknowledged that concern in its statement, saying that it was “taking a hard look” at how it could improve its permissions and processes.

“Access to these tools is strictly limited and is only granted for valid business reasons,” the company said.

Not all the employees targeted in the spear-phishing attack had access to the in-house tools, Twitter said – but they did have access to the internal network and other systems.

Once the attackers had acquired user credentials to let them inside Twitter’s network, the next stage of their attack was much easier.

They targeted other employees who had access to account controls.

Analysis

By Joe Tidy, cyber-security reporter

Twitter isn’t clarifying whether or not their employees were duped by an email or a phone call. The consensus in the information security community is that it was the latter.

Phonecall spear-phishing, commonly known as vishing, is bread and butter for the sort of hackers who are suspected of this attack.

The criminals obtained the phone numbers of a handful of Twitter staff and, by using friendly persuasion and trickery, got them to hand over usernames and passwords that gave them an initial foothold into the internal system.

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As Twitter puts it, the scammers “exploited human vulnerabilities”. You can imagine how it possibly went:

Hacker to Twitter employee: “Hi, I’m new to the department and I’ve locked myself out of the Twitter internal portal, can you do me a huge favour and give me the login again?”

The fact that Twitter staff were susceptible to these basic attacks is embarrassing for a company built on being at the forefront of digital technology and internet culture.

Twitter said the initial spear-phishing attempt happened on 15 July – the same day the accounts were compromised, suggesting the accounts were accessed within hours.

“This attack relied on a significant and concerted attempt to mislead certain employees and exploit human vulnerabilities to gain access to our internal systems,” the company said.

“This was a striking reminder of how important each person on our team is in protecting our service.”

Twitter did not state whether the attack involved voice calls, despite a previous report from Bloomberg stating that at least one Twitter employee was contacted by attackers through a phone call.

Phishing is most commonly done by email and text message, encouraging recipients to click on links that take them to websites with fake log-in screens.

Spear-phishing is a version of the scam targeted at one person or a specific company, and is usually heavily customised to make it more believable.

One victim whose account was compromised told the BBC there were several things Twitter could have done differently.

“They shouldn’t give the ability to a single employee to remove both email address on file and two-factor authentication,” they said.

“I understand why there’s a need for this – for example if a dormant account has a very old email that’s inaccessible and you’ve lost your phone or something- but it should require two employees to sign off.”

They also said communication from Twitter was poor.

“It took 10 days to reset this account with no actual personal response from Twitter. I literally got a ‘click here to continue’ automated email from their system when they added my email back to the account to allow me to reset it – and it looked like a phishing email.”

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The decision means that one of the world’s largest tech companies is bracing for a long pandemic — and could prompt other businesses to follow suit. CNN’s u003ca href=”https://www.cnn.com/profiles/brian-todd-profile” target=”_blank”>Brian Toddu003c/a> reports.”,”descriptionText”:”u003ca href=”https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/27/tech/google-work-from-home-extension/index.html” target=”_blank”>Google will let employees work from home until at least July 2021, according to a company spokepersonu003c/a>. The decision means that one of the world’s largest tech companies is bracing for a long pandemic — and could prompt other businesses to follow suit. CNN’s u003ca href=”https://www.cnn.com/profiles/brian-todd-profile” target=”_blank”>Brian Toddu003c/a> reports.”},{“title”:”Covid-19 is driving millennials out of cities and into first homes”,”duration”:”04:01″,”sourceName”:”CNN Business”,”sourceLink”:””,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/business/2020/07/24/new-york-city-urban-exodus-housing-real-estate-suburb-connecticut-catskills-orig.cnn-business/index.xml”,”videoId”:”business/2020/07/24/new-york-city-urban-exodus-housing-real-estate-suburb-connecticut-catskills-orig.cnn-business”,”videoImage”:”//cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/200724095849-catskills-house-buyers-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/business/2020/07/24/new-york-city-urban-exodus-housing-real-estate-suburb-connecticut-catskills-orig.cnn-business/video/playlists/business-coronavirus/”,”description”:”Millennials are fleeing cities and waging bidding wars for suburban and even rural homes. It’s a big bet that the work-from-home lifestyle is here to stay.”,”descriptionText”:”Millennials are fleeing cities and waging bidding wars for suburban and even rural homes. It’s a big bet that the work-from-home lifestyle is here to stay.”},{“title”:”She lost her job in 2008. Lingering fear prepared her for 2020″,”duration”:”01:50″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:””,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/business/2020/07/22/laid-off-during-great-recession-life-after-orig-mss.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”business/2020/07/22/laid-off-during-great-recession-life-after-orig-mss.cnn”,”videoImage”:”//cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/200722160144-life-after-financial-crisis-thumbnail-1-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/business/2020/07/22/laid-off-during-great-recession-life-after-orig-mss.cnn/video/playlists/business-coronavirus/”,”description”:”Karen Schultz-Tarnopol was laid off in the 2008 Great Recession. She reflects on her own financial crisis as part of CNN’s u003ca href=”https://www.cnn.com/specials/world/life-after” target=”_blank”>”Life Afteru003c/a>” series, which looks at what life is like after a personal tragedy or change.”,”descriptionText”:”Karen Schultz-Tarnopol was laid off in the 2008 Great Recession. She reflects on her own financial crisis as part of CNN’s u003ca href=”https://www.cnn.com/specials/world/life-after” target=”_blank”>”Life Afteru003c/a>” series, which looks at what life is like after a personal tragedy or change.”},{“title”:”Another 1.4 million Americans file jobless claims”,”duration”:”01:26″,”sourceName”:”CNNBusiness”,”sourceLink”:””,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/business/2020/07/23/jobless-claims-unemployment-benefits-coronavirus.cnnbusiness/index.xml”,”videoId”:”business/2020/07/23/jobless-claims-unemployment-benefits-coronavirus.cnnbusiness”,”videoImage”:”//cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/200722205603-coronavirus-unemployment-0716-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/business/2020/07/23/jobless-claims-unemployment-benefits-coronavirus.cnnbusiness/video/playlists/business-coronavirus/”,”description”:”More than 52 million people have filed for first-time unemployment benefits in the last 18 weeks. CNN’s Christine Romans reports. “,”descriptionText”:”More than 52 million people have filed for first-time unemployment benefits in the last 18 weeks. CNN’s Christine Romans reports. “},{“title”:”Why I’m living on Harvard’s campus even though all my classes are online”,”duration”:”02:48″,”sourceName”:”CNN Business”,”sourceLink”:””,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/business/2020/07/22/harvard-college-coronavirus-on-campus-orig.cnn-business/index.xml”,”videoId”:”business/2020/07/22/harvard-college-coronavirus-on-campus-orig.cnn-business”,”videoImage”:”//cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/200722121833-harvard-interviews-cnn-business-video-thumbnail-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/business/2020/07/22/harvard-college-coronavirus-on-campus-orig.cnn-business/video/playlists/business-coronavirus/”,”description”:”Incoming Harvard College freshmen talk to CNN Business about plans to continue their education through the Covid-19 pandemic.”,”descriptionText”:”Incoming Harvard College freshmen talk to CNN Business about plans to continue their education through the Covid-19 pandemic.”},{“title”:”Coin shortage driven by Covid-19 crisis”,”duration”:”02:03″,”sourceName”:”CNNBusiness”,”sourceLink”:””,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/business/2020/07/22/coin-shortage-coronavirus.cnnbusiness/index.xml”,”videoId”:”business/2020/07/22/coin-shortage-coronavirus.cnnbusiness”,”videoImage”:”//cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/200618130737-u-s-coins-stock-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/business/2020/07/22/coin-shortage-coronavirus.cnnbusiness/video/playlists/business-coronavirus/”,”description”:”Consumers staying home and businesses shutting down during the pandemic have led to a nationwide shortage of change. CNN’s Tom Foreman reports.”,”descriptionText”:”Consumers staying home and businesses shutting down during the pandemic have led to a nationwide shortage of change. CNN’s Tom Foreman reports.”},{“title”:”Zuckerberg blasts Trump administration for worsening pandemic”,”duration”:”02:40″,”sourceName”:”CNN Business”,”sourceLink”:””,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/business/2020/07/17/zuckerberg-fauci-facebook-live-interview-lon-orig.cnn-business/index.xml”,”videoId”:”business/2020/07/17/zuckerberg-fauci-facebook-live-interview-lon-orig.cnn-business”,”videoImage”:”//cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/200716175111-fauci-zuckerberg-facebook-live-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/business/2020/07/17/zuckerberg-fauci-facebook-live-interview-lon-orig.cnn-business/video/playlists/business-coronavirus/”,”description”:”The Facebook CEO made the criticism during an interview with Dr. Anthony Fauci over Facebook Live.”,”descriptionText”:”The Facebook CEO made the criticism during an interview with Dr. Anthony Fauci over Facebook Live.”},{“title”:”How masks are reshaping the face of the retail economy”,”duration”:”02:32″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”http://www.cnn.com/”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/business/2020/07/16/masks-retail-economy-coronavirus-clare-sebastian-pkg.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”business/2020/07/16/masks-retail-economy-coronavirus-clare-sebastian-pkg.cnn”,”videoImage”:”//cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/200420143421-grocery-masks-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/business/2020/07/16/masks-retail-economy-coronavirus-clare-sebastian-pkg.cnn/video/playlists/business-coronavirus/”,”description”:”As masks become ubiquitous amid the coronavirus pandemic, retailers are rushing to meet demand. CNN’s Clare Sebastian reports.”,”descriptionText”:”As masks become ubiquitous amid the coronavirus pandemic, retailers are rushing to meet demand. CNN’s Clare Sebastian reports.”},{“title”:”Unemployed workers about to lose enhanced benefits”,”duration”:”02:45″,”sourceName”:”CNNBusiness”,”sourceLink”:””,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/business/2020/07/16/enhanced-unemployment-benefits-coronavirus.cnnbusiness/index.xml”,”videoId”:”business/2020/07/16/enhanced-unemployment-benefits-coronavirus.cnnbusiness”,”videoImage”:”//cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/200716103657-delena-sanders-unemployed-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/business/2020/07/16/enhanced-unemployment-benefits-coronavirus.cnnbusiness/video/playlists/business-coronavirus/”,”description”:”Experts warn that when the extra $600 in weekly federal unemployment benefits expires at the end of July, it will be a “total economic devastation.” CNN’s Vanessa Yurkevich reports.”,”descriptionText”:”Experts warn that when the extra $600 in weekly federal unemployment benefits expires at the end of July, it will be a “total economic devastation.” CNN’s Vanessa Yurkevich reports.”},{“title”:”This portable ultrasound technology could help fight Covid-19″,”duration”:”02:39″,”sourceName”:”CNN Business”,”sourceLink”:”http://www.cnn.com/business”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/business/2020/07/07/portable-ultrasound-technology-covid-19-orig.cnn-business/index.xml”,”videoId”:”business/2020/07/07/portable-ultrasound-technology-covid-19-orig.cnn-business”,”videoImage”:”//cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/200707203836-butterfly-iq-portable-ultrasound-device—restricted-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/business/2020/07/07/portable-ultrasound-technology-covid-19-orig.cnn-business/video/playlists/business-coronavirus/”,”description”:”As health care workers assess Covid-19 patients’ lungs, portable ultrasound technology could help increase efficiency and speed while reducing the risk of spreading the virus.”,”descriptionText”:”As health care workers assess Covid-19 patients’ lungs, portable ultrasound technology could help increase efficiency and speed while reducing the risk of spreading the virus.”},{“title”:”This coronavirus-killing MIT robot could end up in your local supermarket”,”duration”:”00:53″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”www.cnn.com/business”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/business/2020/07/03/mit-uvc-coronavirus-orig.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”business/2020/07/03/mit-uvc-coronavirus-orig.cnn”,”videoImage”:”//cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/200703140032-mit-uvc-robot-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/business/2020/07/03/mit-uvc-coronavirus-orig.cnn/video/playlists/business-coronavirus/”,”description”:”Robot on aisle six? MIT has partnered with Ava Robotics to design a robot that may help fight the coronavirus by disinfecting the floor of a 4,000-square foot warehouse in 30 minutes. It could one day be used to clean your local grocery store or school.”,”descriptionText”:”Robot on aisle six? MIT has partnered with Ava Robotics to design a robot that may help fight the coronavirus by disinfecting the floor of a 4,000-square foot warehouse in 30 minutes. 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The FCC has unanimously approved Amazon’s Project Kuiper, giving the tech giant the go-ahead to deploy and operate a constellation of 3,236 satellites. Amazon asked the FCC for permission to launch thousands of Low Earth Orbit satellites in July 2019, just a few months months after announcing the project. Similar to SpaceX’s Starlink constellation, Kuiper’s purpose is to provide satellite-based broadband services. Amazon is hoping to help expand internet access to households and businesses in remote areas across the United States and around the world.

The company plans to invest over $10 billion on the project, which will be deployed in five phases. According to the FCC, Amazon must be done deploying half of Kuiper’s satellites by 2026, and the whole constellation must be in place by July 30th, 2029.

European stocks climbed on the final trading day of the month, lifted by better-than-expected results and after blowout earnings for major U.S. tech companies. That cheer helped investors set aside, for now, signs of increasing global economic troubles due to the pandemic.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index
SXXP,
+0.50%
rose 0.5% to 361.06 after posting the worst one-day losses in four weeks, a drop of 2.2%. The index is looking at a 0.2% drop in July. Elsewhere, the German DAX
DAX,
+0.66%
rose 0.6%, the French CAC 40 index
PX1,
+0.27%
gained 0.6% and the FTSE 100 index
UKX,
-0.01%
added 0.3%.

(Bloomberg Opinion) — When Nikola Corp. started trading on Nasdaq in June, the Phoenix-based clean transportation company raced quickly to a valuation of almost $30 billion.

Its market worth has since fallen to a more reasonable $10.5 billion, but that’s still pretty spicy for a business yet to generate any revenue. Its most promising products are its heavy trucks, powered by electric batteries or hydrogen fuel cells.

The rise of Nikola (whose name, cheekily, is another evocation of electrical engineer Nikola Tesla) will have reinforced a view among European auto industry executives that the U.S. stock market operates by different rules. While Tesla Inc. is only modestly profitable, it’s valued at about $275 billion, more than Europe’s five largest carmakers combined.

At least Europe has a stake in the latest heavily hyped project. Founded by Trevor Milton, a 38-year-old American college dropout, Nikola is relying heavily on expertise from the old continent. Robert Bosch Gmbh, a German automotive supplier, has helped develop the U.S. company’s electric powertrain, and the first Nikola trucks will be built in a German factory belonging to Italy’s Iveco, a truck maker backed by the billionaire Agnelli family. Bosch and Iveco each own more than 6% of Nikola. CNH Industrial NV, Iveco’s parent, just recorded a $1.5 billion fair value gain on that investment.(1) 

The biggest question is whether a start-up dependent on so much external help should have a whizzy valuation like Tesla, which builds much of its technology itself. And if Europe has this expertise, why hasn’t it produced its own rival to Elon Musk’s carmaker?

Maybe it’s a lack of chutzpah. Nikola’s name isn’t the only reason it’s often compared with Tesla. Milton’s hyperactive Twitter presence makes Musk look tame by comparison. Both men’s ambitions extend beyond selling zero-emission vehicles to producing and storing clean energy. While Nikola is focused on heavy-duty trucks, it has touted a variety of consumer products including a pickup called the Badger. These are catnip for retail investors, as the excitement over Musk’s Cybertruck demonstrates.

While Tesla and Nikola are both working on electric heavy trucks, they differ in at least two important respects. The first is hydrogen: Musk is dismissive, while Milton thinks hydrogen is the perfect fuel for long truck journeys. The second is their attitude toward building stuff in-house. 

True, in its early days Tesla worked with Lotus to help make the Roadster, and Daimler AG helped develop the Model S saloon. Tesla partners with Panasonic to produce battery cells. But Musk is famous for trying to build his own technology, from electric powertrains and automated-driving software to car seats.

Nikola developed its own software, infotainment and battery management-system, as well as vehicle aerodynamics, according to Cowen analyst Jeffrey Osborne. It has outsourced or used hired help to do much of the other stuff. More than 200 Bosch employees were involved in building important parts of Nikola’s trucks, including the electric motor for the axle, the vehicle-control unit, the battery and the hydrogen fuel cell. The result is a mix of intellectual property owned either separately or jointly by Nikola and its suppliers. 

There’s no doubt, however, who has the deeper expertise. So far Nikola has been awarded 11 U.S. patents, about 1% of the total Bosch is awarded in a typical year. “Bosch gets paid to help us get to industry standards on products,” Milton told me.

Getting partners to provide the technological building blocks has some advantages. Nikola has only 300 employees and yet its first trucks should start rolling off the production line soon. Working with partners cuts the risk of the manufacturing delays and quality problems that plagued Tesla.

It’s an efficient use of capital too. Nikola’s research and development expenses were just $68 million last year. Tesla spent $1.3 billion. After going public, Nikola has about $900 million of cash, although that won’t go far in the automotive business. For the North American market, Nikola plans to handle its own manufacturing, with technical assistance from Iveco. Nikola broke ground this week on a $600 million factory in Arizona.

Story continues

The Friday Market Minute

• Global stocks mixed on the final trading day of the month, with Asia held down by recovery concerns and Europe and the US rising on big tech earnings.
• Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google all beat Wall Street forecast, with revenues rising to a collective $205.2 billion.
• Lingering U.S. growth concerns, however, push the dollar to a fresh two-year low, and gold to a fresh all-time high, in overnight trading.
• U.S. coronavirus cases rise by more than 68,000 Thursday, taking the overall total to 4.6 million.
• Global oil prices rebound thanks to a weaker U.S. dollar, but demand concerns keep crude tight to its $40 per barrel trading range.
• U.S. equity futures suggest a firmer open on Wall Street ahead of earnings from Merck, ExxonMobil, Chevron and Colgate before the start of trading and inflation and personal consumption data at 8:30 am Eastern time.

Wall Street futures extended gains Friday, powered by gains for the biggest U.S. tech stocks after blockbuster earnings after the close of trading yesterday, but lingering concerns for the fate of the global economic recovery, and rising coronavirus infection rates, continue to cloud investor sentiment. 

Apple Inc.  (AAPL) – Get Report alone will add at least 150 points to the Dow Jones Industrial Average at the start of trading, thanks to the stock’s 6% pre-market rising following last night’s blowout earnings report, which included nearly $60 billion in revenues and a better-than-expected bottom line of $2.58 per share. 

Apple’s plans to split its shares, which are current trading north of $400 each, could be holding down gains for the Dow, given the tech giant’s impact on the price-weighted average. 

Amazon Inc.  (AMZN) – Get Report, too, will provide a big boost to both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, with shares up 5.4% in pre-market after the online retailer posted record quarterly profits on sales on nearly $90 billion.

However, Thursday’s grim second quarter GDP reading, which showed an annualized contraction of 32.9% — the steepest since records began — as well as an uptick in weekly jobless claims, were powerful reminders for investors that any domestic recovery will be predicated on taming the spread of the cornavirus, which has infected 4.6 million Americans and killed at least 154,000. 

In fact, those concerns are being expressed far more dramatically in the value of the U.S. dollar than they are in stocks, with the greenback falling to a fresh two-year low against a basket of its global peers in overnight trading, taking its July decline to around 5%, the most in ten years.

Gold prices, too, have had their best month in nearly five years, rising nearly 11% since the end of June to a fresh record high of $1,974.00 per ounce in overnight trading as new coronavirus lockdown orders were put in place in the United Kingdom, and Japan threatened to impose new restrictions on movement and business in Tokyo amid a fresh outbreak in the capital.

Stocks, meanwhile, are set for mixed opening bell gains Friday, despite the powerhouse impact from Amazon, Apple, Facebook  (FB) – Get Report and Google  (GOOGL) – Get Report, with futures contracts tied to the Dow suggesting a 55 point advance and those linked to the S&P 500, which is up 4.7% for the month, indicating a stronger 15 point jump.

Nasdaq Composite futures, meanwhile, are guiding to a 180 point opening bell gain that would power the tech-focused index to a fresh all-time high.

European stocks booked solid early gains, as well, with the Stoxx 600 rising 0.72% in early trading, paced by a 0.8% gain for the DAX performance index in Germany and a 0.6% gain for the FTSE 100 in London.

The euro, however, is on pace for its best month against the dollar in a decade, having touched the 1.19 level in overnight trading for the first time since May 2018, with the pound rising to a four-and-a-half month high of 1.3134 against the slumping greenback.

Dollar weakness helped global oil prices bounce higher Friday, despite demand concerns linked to the COVID-19 resurgence and mixed industrial data from China.

WTI contracts for September delivery, the U.S. benchmark, 30 cents higher from their Thursday close in New York and were changing hands at $40.22 per barrel in early European dealing while Brent contracts for September, the global benchmark, were seen 30 cents higher at $43.08 per barrel.

Overnight in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 slumped 2.82% on the session to push the benchmark into negative territory for the month, driven by last night’s declines on Wall Street and a stronger yen, while the region-wide MSCI ex-Japan index, the region’s broadest measure of share prices, slipped 0.31% into the final hours of trading.